But obviously, the more specific you get, the less known and less agreed-upon the flags become,” Simpson adds. “Each city within each state likely has a flag too, or perhaps more than one that has been proposed, reflecting the diversity of our community. Simpson also co-authored the proposition to get Unicode to include the transgender flag in the recent emoji update. “When I describe the diverse Pride flags, I like to explain that if you were to consider the rainbow as the ‘United States of Pride Flag,’ then just as each state in our union has a flag, so does each state of being,” explains Hannah Simpson, a transgender activist who runs the LGBTQIA+ enamel pin Etsy shop, Changed Me. Throughout the years, some flags have also undergone different variations as well. There are at least 21 official LGBTQ+ flags that represent varying identities within the queer community. How many different LGBTQ+ flags are there?
Let’s take a look at LGBTQIA+ flags and gay flags-including all pride flags -and the meaning behind each of them.
