The flag now has (from the top) red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet and their closest Pantone® values are 185 C, 1375 C, 101 C, 356 C, 2736 C and 2415 C, respectively. The indigo (#400098) and turquoise (#00C0C0) from the original flag were merged into one blue stripe and hot pink (#FF69B6) was removed. The present day LGBTQ+ Pride Flag has only 6 colors which are placed in equal-sized horizontal stripes. This flag had 8 stripes (from the top) – hot pink, red, orange, yellow, green, turquoise, indigo and violet which represented sex, life, healing, sunlight, nature, magic/art, serenity and spirit, respectively. The original flag was designed by Gilbert Baker and was flown for the first time on 25 June 1978 at the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade. However, this was soon done away with because of the dark history associated with the symbol – it was used by the German fascist rule of the early 20 th century to segregate homosexuals. Further expansion has led to the inclusion of queer and the community which is now LGBTQ.īefore the LGBTQ rainbow flag came into existence, the community used a pink triangle symbol as their identity. It has been used since the 1990s and replaces the term ‘gay’, which on its own, did not describe the community correctly. LGBT stands for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender.
