Various pride flags have been used to symbolize gay men. Rainbow flags have been used since 1978 to represent both gay men and, subsequently, the LGBT community as a whole. Since the 2010s, various designs have been proposed to specifically represent the gay male community.

Rainbow flags

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The original gay pride flags were flown in celebration of the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade on June 25, 1978.[1] According to a profile published in the Bay Area Reporter in 1985, Gilbert Baker "chose the rainbow motif because of its associations with the hippie movement of the 1960s, but notes that use of the design dates back to ancient Egypt".[2]

Flags of the 2010s

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The first known flag design made specifically for gay men was published online on October 9, 2018, on VK, a Russian website.[3] It was designed by Valentin Belyaev in the mid-2010s or earlier to combat gayphobia, and it was based on the lesbian flag.[4] It symbolizes the attraction of men to each other and the diversity of the gay community itself.[5] It is sometimes known as the Uranian flag.[6]

The first gay man flag design to be published online was designed by Mod Hermy of the Pride-Flags account on DeviantArt.[7] It was first posted on Tumblr on August 24, 2016, and was based on the pink lesbian flag.[8][9]

In March 2017, Gilbert Baker created a nine-stripe version of his original 1977 flag, featuring lavender, pink, turquoise, and indigo stripes alongside red, orange, yellow, green, and purple. According to Baker, the lavender stripe symbolizes diversity.[10]

Another flag design for gay men, featuring green, teal, white, blue, and purple stripes, was designed by Tumblr user gayflagblog, a disabled trans man.[5][11][12][13][14][15][16] Two versions, with seven and five stripes respectively, were released on July 10, 2019.[17][18] The colors from turquoise to green represent community, healing and joy; the white stripe in the middle is an iteration of Monica Helms' trans flag design and includes people who are transgender, intersex, gender non-conforming, or non-binary; and the colors blue through purple represent pure love, strength, and diversity.[19][20][21] This design is sometimes known as the Vincian flag.[4][22]

Subcultures

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A flag for the bear subculture exists.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Rainbow Flag". GLBT Historical Society. Archived from the original on 2021-06-18. Retrieved 2022-06-04.
  2. ^ "Gilbert Baker: Street queen at the ball". Bay Area Reporter. 1985-11-14.
  3. ^ "Guide to 72 LGBTQ+ Pride Flags - OutBüro". 2021-02-10. Archived from the original on 2022-05-16. Retrieved 2022-06-04.
  4. ^ a b "MLM Pride Gay Men Flag". prideflags.info. Archived from the original on 2022-06-04. Retrieved 2022-06-04.
  5. ^ a b "» Gay" (in Brazilian Portuguese). Archived from the original on 2022-05-24. Retrieved 2022-06-04.
  6. ^ "Uranian - What is it? What does it mean? - Taimi wiki". Taimi. Archived from the original on 2022-05-20. Retrieved 2022-06-04.
  7. ^ Pride-Flags (6 March 2021). "Clearing up some things about the gay man flag by". www.deviantart.com. Archived from the original on 2022-05-26. Retrieved 2022-06-04.[self-published]
  8. ^ Santiago, Benjamín (2019-08-12). "Bandera gay: ¿necesidad o capricho?". Código Público (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2022-07-31. Retrieved 2022-07-31.
  9. ^ "» Gay". orientando.org (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 2024-09-17.
  10. ^ "Our Enduring LGBTQ Symbols". sfbaytimes.com. 2017-03-09. Archived from the original on 2023-07-06. Retrieved 2023-07-07.
  11. ^ "The Stolen Gay Male Pride Flag". Beyond MOGAI Pride Flags. 2021-06-08. Archived from the original on 2023-02-16. Retrieved 2022-06-04.
  12. ^ "LGBTQ+ Pride Flags and What They Stand For". www.volvogroup.com. Archived from the original on 2021-08-17. Retrieved 2022-06-04.
  13. ^ Staff, Gayety (2022-06-17). "22 Pride Flags You Should Know if You're LGBTQ+". Gayety. Archived from the original on 2022-07-07. Retrieved 2022-06-30.
  14. ^ "เปิดความหมาย "สีธง" ของกลุ่มต่าง ๆ ใน "LGBTQIA+"". bangkokbiznews (in Thai). 2022-06-10. Archived from the original on 2022-06-30. Retrieved 2022-06-30.
  15. ^ "Beyond the Rainbow: Your Complete Guide to Pride Flags". Cade Hildreth. 2020-02-18. Archived from the original on 2021-02-18.
  16. ^ Aguirre, Héctor (2019-08-07). "Esta es la bandera gay, diseñada por un hombre trans gay". El Closet LGBT (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2022-07-31. Retrieved 2022-07-31.
  17. ^ "Conoce el significado de las banderas LGBT+". Homosensual. 2022-06-01. Archived from the original on 2022-06-08. Retrieved 2022-06-04.
  18. ^ "Pride Flags". Rainbow Directory. Archived from the original on 2022-05-26. Retrieved 2022-06-04.
  19. ^ "Bandera gay: Colores, significado e historia". Homosensual. 2022-06-02. Archived from the original on 2022-06-03. Retrieved 2022-06-04.
  20. ^ "Mês do Orgulho LGBTQIA+: saiba o que cada letra significa e quais as suas bandeiras - OitoMeia". OitoMeia - Notícias: Teresina, Piauí, Brasil e Mundo. 2022-06-03. Archived from the original on 2023-07-07. Retrieved 2022-06-04.
  21. ^ "Nueva bandera sólo para Gays". Entendi2 (in Spanish). 2020-08-31. Archived from the original on 2022-07-03. Retrieved 2022-07-31.
  22. ^ "All 20+ LGBT pride flags and their meanings explained". Heckin' Unicorn. 16 September 2021. Archived from the original on 2022-06-07. Retrieved 2022-06-04.
  23. ^ "Gay Men's Pride Flag". San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus. 17 April 2023. Archived from the original on 2023-04-22. Retrieved 2023-07-07.
  24. ^ "PRIDE FLAGS". Queer Lexicon. 22 July 2017. Retrieved 16 August 2023.
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