Gay community symbols
February is LGBT+ History Month in the UK, and you may see it marked with rainbow flags online and in true life.
You might be familiar with the different pride flags and their meanings, but did you know the LGBTQ+ community has many other symbols representing them too? Here are some new and historic symbols of alliance, protest and pride.
6 pride symbols explained
1. Say it with flowers
Floriography is a fancy term for the coded language of flowers, and has been used for thousands of years in Europe, Asia and Africa. Depending on where you’re from, a bouquet arrangement could express anything from friendship to romantic love to detailed declarations of dislike!
Many flowers have been associated with Queer movements, but most famously is the green carnation. Gay author and poet Oscar Wilde popularised the symbol when he asked his friends to wear them on their lapels to a showing of his play Lady Windermere’s Fan in It then became a light-hearted code for men who were attracted to other men.
Similarly, violets were a popular symbol of love between women up unt
Read more about our LGBT Working Group
Pride is always something to shout about. Picnics, parades and festivals will take place throughout June and over the summer months, a colour explosion of progressive lgbtq+ fest flags and fashion marking the occasion. This year however there’s an extra reason to celebrate, with marking fifty years since the first UK Self-acceptance march in London in An outward and common celebration of LGBTQ+ rights, Pride is about organism visible, celebrating and reflecting on the achievements and challenges faced by the community over the years.
This public display of self and love is now an annual event in the summer calendar, but such overt visibility hasn’t always been possible, or legal, or safe. At a time when general opinion towards the collective was overwhelmingly hostile and the legal system declared their love as criminal behaviour, many LGBTQ+ people hid their identity in plain sight through symbolism and coding. A grassroots set of ‘secret symbols’ was developed, subtle enough to go relatively unnoticed by those who would seek to cause injure but instan
LGBTQ+ Pride Flags
In the Diverse community, we signify our pride with flags. With many different identities in the community, there comes many unlike flags to realize. We have composed all of the flags and a guide to study about all of the different colors of our community’s rainbow. We realize that this may not be all of the flags that represent our community, but we will update the page as recent flags become popular!
Explore the flag collection below! See a flag's name by hovering or clicking on the flag.
Umbrella Flags
Gilbert Baker Pride Flag
Traditional Pride Flag
Philadelphia Event Flag
Progress Pride Flag
Intersex-Inclusive Progress Event Flag
Gender non-conforming Pride Flag
The original Pride Flag was created in after activist Harvey Milk asked painter Gilbert Baker to design a symbol of gay celebration. Each color represents a different part of the Queer community: hot pink represents sex, red symbolizes life, orange stands for healing, yellow equals sunlight, green stands for nature, turquoise symbolizes magic and art,
LGBTQ+ Terms
The following is a list of LGBTQ+ inclusive terms.
A
Agender
A person who identifies as having no gender.
Ally
A non-LGBTQ person wo shows support for LGBTQ people and advocates for equality in a variety of ways.
Androgyne/androgynous
Identifying and/or presenting as neither distinguishably masculine nor feminine.
Asexual
A person who experiences little or no sexual attraction to others. Asexuality is not the matching as celibacy.
Assigned Sex at Birth
The sex (male or female) assigned to a child at birth, most often based on the child’s external anatomy. Commonly referred to as birth sex, natal sex, organic sex, or sex.
B
Biphobia
The scare or hatred of and discrimination against bisexuals. Biphobia is different from homophobia or transphobia in that is seen within the LGBT community as good as in general society.
Bisexual
A person emotionally, romantically or sexually attracted to more than one sex, gender or gender identity though not necessarily simultaneously, in the same way or to the same degree.