Pride Month is here: Learn what the origin story and colors of the Progress Pride Flag

The original Pride Flag was created by Gilbert Baker in 1978 to create a new symbol for the LGBTQ community amid the battle for equal rights in the U.S., which is still ongoing today. Gilbert’s striped flag was inspired by past revolutions, including the U.S. breaking away from England and the French Revolution.

The rainbow flag is recognized around the world as a symbol of joy, pride and the persistence of the LGBTQ community in the face of discrimination and anti-LGBTQ legislation. Over the years it's been redesigned and updated, an homage to the past and a gesture toward the future.

What do the colors of the Progress Pride Flag mean?

The Progress Pride Flag is a reimagined take on the traditional Pride Flag, which has six colored stripes in the order of the rainbow. The Progress Pride Flag includes a black, brown, blue, pink and white stripe layered on top of the rainbow colors.

The six rainbow colors altogether symbolize hope, but have their own individual meanings:

• Red: Life

• Orange: Healing

• Yellow: Sunlight

• Green: Nature

• Blue: Peace or serenity

• Purple: Spirit

The black and brown colors represent marginalized communities. The blue, pink and white stripes represent Trans Pride, with light blue and pink for the traditional baby colors for girls and boys and white for intersex, transitioning, neutral or undefined gender.

The black stripe also represents those lost during the AIDS crisis as seen in the Victory Over AIDS Flag designed in the 1980s. The red also has a double meaning in showing the search for a cure.

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History of the Progress Pride Flag

The Progress Pride Flag was designed by queer, nonbinary artist Daniel Quasar in 2018. Quasar was inspired by the addition of the black and brown stripes to the Philadelphia Pride Flag in 2017 to emphasize “the current needs within our community.”

According to Quasar, the chevron shape of the stripes representing the trans and marginalized communities symbolizes an arrow moving forward, while their positioning on the end of the flag shows there is still more progress to be made.

“This new design forces the viewer to confront their own feelings towards the original Pride flag and its meanings as well as the differing opinions on who that flag really represents,” Quasar wrote on their site.

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The flag was designed to relate specifically to the Philadelphia LGBTQ community, highlighting a long history of activism and a mission of “inclusion as an essential part of Philly Pride,” the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

What is the Philadelphia Pride Flag?

The Philadelphia Pride Flag, introduced by Amber Hike and the Philadelphia Office of LGBT Affairs in 2017, is an updated version of the traditional rainbow pride flag.

The Philly Pride Flag includes black and brown stripes at the top of the flag above the first red stripe and represents Black and Latino communities of Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

Discrimination and racism within the LGBTQ community prompted the flag redesign, which was introduced as part of a citywide “More Color More Pride” campaign.

The LGBTQ rights movement historically centered white, gay men and the first Pride parades largely excluded people of color despite the important role they played in the movement, including the well-known 1969 Stonewall uprising. More than 50 years later, Black LGBTQ individuals experience heightened discrimination compared to their white peers.

More Pride Flags explained

Pride Flag | Lesbian Pride Flag | Transgender Pride Flag | Bisexual Pride Flag | Pansexual Pride Flag | Asexual Pride Flag | Intersex Pride Flag | Gender Identity Flags

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Rainbow reimagined: What the Progress Pride and Philly Pride Flags mean