The final black stripe represents those who feel they are without gender, as black is the photological absence of color and/or light.” The nonbinary flag and the genderqueer flag are both options for nonbinary people to use to symbolize themselves and take different approaches to how to symbolize nonbinary genders. The purple could also be seen as representing the fluidity and uniqueness of nonbinary people. From hot pink to violet, the first flag was hand-dyed and stitched together by volunteers and flown with pride for the first time on June 22, 1978.
The flag was created that year and it had eight stripes. The purple stripe represents those who feel their gender is between or a mix of female and male, as purple is the mix of traditional boy and girl colors. Milk asked a prominent, local gay artist at the time, Gilbert Baker, to create something new to represent and inspire the queer community. White represents those who have many or all genders, as white is the photological presence of color and/or light. Yellow represents those whose gender exists outside of and without reference to the binary, as yellow is often used to distinguish something as its own. This flag was intended to go alongside Marilyn Roxie’s genderqueer flag rather than replace it. Kye Rowan designed the nonbinary flag in 2014. TriPride has not discovered the original creator.
The raised fist was added to the six-striped flag and includes various shades of brown and a white stripe to represent the various colors of the “human rainbow.” The flags use has mostly been in the digital sphere, but it was flown at the 2019 San Francisco Pride. Historically, the raised fist has served as an emblem of solidarity and support as well as an expression of unity, strength, defiance, and resistance. Johnson, the black drag queen thought to have thrown the first brick at the Stonewall Inn Riots). The flag represents queer people of color (QPOC) and how the black community and the queer community are often woven together, both currently and in the earliest days of the Queer Liberation Movement (see Marsha P. Francois Lenoir / Reuters The best-known, six-stripe version of the rainbow pride flag was established in 1979, and still assigns a meaning to each color: red for life, orange for healing, yellow for sunlight, green for nature, blue for harmony and purple for spirit. Though it may have been used before, 2020 saw the display of the QPOC Pride Flag rise in popularity in the broader queer community as a sign of solidarity with Black Lives Matter demonstrations seen across the country and world. The current, six-stripe flag still assigns a meaning to each color.