The transgender flag, also called the transgender pride flag, is used by people, organizations and communities to represent

pride Pride is a human Emotion, secondary emotion characterized by a sense of satisfaction with one's Identity (philosophy), identity, performance, or accomplishments. It is often considered the opposite of shame or of humility and, depending on conte ...

, diversity,

rights Rights are law, legal, social, or ethics, ethical principles of freedom or Entitlement (fair division), entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal sy ...

and/or remembrance within the

transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

community. Its usage is similar to the original

rainbow flag A rainbow flag is a multicolored flag consisting of the colors of the rainbow. The designs differ, but many of the colors are based on the seven spectral colors of the visible light spectrum. History In the 18th century, American Revolutionary ...

but specific to the transgender community. It was designed in 1999 by

Monica Helms Monica F. Helms (born March 8, 1951) is an American transgender activist, author, and veteran of the United States Navy. She created the best-known Transgender flag#Helms' design, transgender flag. Education Helms received a General AA Degree ...

and has since been adopted by the transgender community around the world. The design features five horizontal stripes of three colors in the order light blue, light pink, white, light pink, and light blue. There are related flags as well, including ones which combine the "progress" version of the rainbow flag with the transgender and intersex flags, as well as various flags for niches within the transgender and non-binary communities. Beyond the common transgender flag design, some artists have created alternative designs used by their local communities.

History and design

The flag was created by American trans woman

in 1999, and was first shown at a pride parade in

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, in 2000. Helms got the idea after talking with a friend, Michael Page, who had designed the

bisexual flag The bisexual flag, also called the bisexual pride flag, is a pride flag representing bisexuality, bisexual individuals and the bisexual community. According to Michael Page, the activist who created the flag based on a color palette designed ...

the year prior. Helms describes the meaning of the transgender pride flag as follows: On 19 August 2014, Monica Helms donated the original transgender pride flag to the

Smithsonian National Museum of American History The National Museum of American History: Kenneth E. Behring Center is a historical museum in Washington, D.C. It collects, preserves, and displays the heritage of the United States in the areas of social, political, cultural, scientific, and m ...

. In 2019, 20 years after the creation of the flag, Helms published a memoir, ''More than Just a Flag'', in which she noted how surprised she was at the adoption of her flag:

Notable appearances featuring the transgender flag

In 2010 the

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, UK, council flew this flag on the

Transgender Day of Remembrance The Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDoR), also known as the International Transgender Day of Remembrance, has been observed annually from its inception on November 20 to memorialize those who have been murdered as a result of transphobia. The ...

Transport for London Transport for London (TfL) is a local government body responsible for most of the transport network in London, United Kingdom. TfL is the successor organization of the London Passenger Transport Board, which was established in 1933, and His ...

also flew the flag from

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Headquarters for the 2016

Transgender Awareness Week Transgender Awareness Week, observed November 13 to November 19, is a one-week celebration leading up to the Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDoR), which memorializes victims of transphobic violence. TDoR occurs annually on November 20, when tra ...

. The flag was flown in San Francisco's

Castro District The Castro District, commonly referred to as the Castro, is a neighborhood in Eureka Valley in San Francisco. The Castro was one of the first gay neighborhoods in the United States. Having transformed from a working-class neighborhood throug ...

(where a rainbow flag usually flies) on 19 and 20 November 2012 in commemoration of the Transgender Day of Remembrance. The flag-raising ceremony was presided over by local

drag queen A drag queen is a person, usually male, who uses Drag (entertainment), drag clothing and makeup to imitate and often exaggerate Femininity, female gender signifiers and gender roles for entertainment purposes. Historically, drag queens have ...

La Monistat.

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became the first county government in the US to officially raise the transgender pride flag in 2015. It was raised at

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in honor of Philadelphia's 14th Annual Trans Health Conference, and remained next to the US and City of Philadelphia flags for the entirety of the conference. Then-Mayor

Michael Nutter Michael Anthony Nutter (born June 29, 1957) is an American politician who served as the 98th Mayor of Philadelphia from 2008 to 2016. A member of the Democratic Party, he is also a former member of the Philadelphia City Council from the 4th di ...

gave a speech in honor of the trans community's acceptance in Philadelphia. In January 2019,

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

Representative

Jennifer Wexton Jennifer Lynn Wexton (née Tosini, May 27, 1968) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the United States representative for Virginia's 10th congressional district from 2019 to 2025. A Democrat, Wexton was a member of the Virginia ...

hung the transgender pride flag outside her office in

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, in a move to show support for the transgender community. In March 2019, dozens of Democratic and

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

members of Congress flew the flag outside their offices for Trans Visibility Week leading up to the

International Transgender Day of Visibility International Transgender Day of Visibility, often simply Trans Day of Visibility (often shortened online as TDOV), is an annual event dedicated to celebrating transgender people raising awareness of discrimination faced by transgender people, ...

. The flag flew above US state capitol buildings for the first time on Transgender Day of Remembrance 2019. The

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and

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displayed the flag. In 2023, the

Progress Pride The rainbow flag or pride flag (formerly gay pride flag) is a LGBT symbols, symbol of LGBT pride, LGBTQ pride and LGBTQ movements, LGBTQ social movements. The colors reflect the diversity of the LGBTQ community and the spectrum of human sexu ...

flag, which incorporates the colors of the transgender flag was flown at the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

. In the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest, non-binary Irish musician

Bambie Thug Bambie Ray Robinson (born 6 March 1993), known by their stage name Bambie Thug, is an Irish singer-songwriter. They are known to mix numerous genres in their music, coining their own term, "ouija-pop", out of disdain for being put into one gen ...

wore an outfit featuring the colors of the transgender flag for their semi-final performance to raise awareness and representation for the

non-binary Non-binary or genderqueer Gender identity, gender identities are those that are outside the male/female gender binary. Non-binary identities often fall under the transgender umbrella since non-binary people typically identify with a gende ...

and transgender community. In June 2025, after the United Kingdom's Supreme Court ruled that "sex" for the purpose of the

Equality Act 2010 The Equality Act 2010 (c. 15) is an act of Parliament of the United Kingdom passed during the Brown ministry with the primary purpose of consolidating, updating and supplementing the numerous prior Acts and Regulations, that formed the basis o ...

meant sex assigned at birth, an activist flew the transgender pride flag at the peak of

Ben Nevis Ben Nevis ( ; , ) is the highest mountain in Scotland, the United Kingdom, and the British Isles. Ben Nevis stands at the western end of the Grampian Mountains in the Highland region of Lochaber, close to the town of Fort William. The mount ...

, the highest point of the United Kingdom.

Emoji

Helms's design was adopted as an

emoji An emoji ( ; plural emoji or emojis; , ) is a pictogram, logogram, ideogram, or smiley embedded in text and used in electronic messages and web pages. The primary function of modern emoji is to fill in emotional cues otherwise missing from type ...

of the flag, which was added to the standard Emoji listing in 2020. The transgender flag emoji () consists of a sequence of five

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s: , , , , .

Other

In 2022 a transgender pride

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“Based on the colours of the Transgender Flag” was registered with the

Scottish Register of Tartans The Scottish Register of Tartans (SRT) is Scotland's official non-ministerial government department for the recording and registration of tartan designs, operating since 5 February 2009. As a governmental body, SRT is headquartered at General ...

Variations

In addition to Helms's original transgender pride flag design, a number of communities have created their variation on the flag, adding symbols or elements to reflect aspects of transgender identity, such as the overlaying of other symbols such as the transgender symbol (⚧) designed by Holly Boswell, Wendy Parker, and Nancy R. Nangeroni. A notable variation is the

Progress Pride Flag The rainbow flag or pride flag (formerly gay pride flag) is a LGBT symbols, symbol of LGBT pride, LGBTQ pride and LGBTQ movements, LGBTQ social movements. The colors reflect the diversity of the LGBTQ community and the spectrum of human sexu ...

, designed in 2018 by Daniel Quasar, which incorporates the three colors of the transgender flag designed by Helms, alongside two black and brown stripes to represent marginalized people of color and those living with

AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

into the rainbow flag.

Alternative designs

Besides the now most commonly used Helms design, which has become commonly known as the transgender flag, over the years some alternative transgender flags have been designed by artists.

Andrew design

In 1999,

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

trans man Johnathan Andrew, under the moniker of "Captain John" on his female-to-male trans website "Adventures in Boyland", designed and published a flag for those within the transgender community. This trans pride flag consists of seven stripes alternating in light pink and light blue separated by thin white stripes and featuring, in the upper left hoist, a twinned Venus and Mars symbol in lavender. The repeated explanation of the color symbolism for Monica Helms's more well-known flag design is almost identical to that of the description of Andrew's design on other pages.

Pellinen design

Jennifer Pellinen designed this flag in 2002. The flag consists of five stripes from pink at the top to blue at the bottom. The pink and blue represent male and female, respectively, and the three purple stripes represent the diversity of the transgender community as well as genders other than male and female.

Israeli transgender flag

A unique design is used in

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

by the transgender and

genderqueer Non-binary or genderqueer gender identities are those that are outside the male/female gender binary. Non-binary identities often fall under the transgender umbrella since non-binary people typically identify with a gender that is differ ...

community. This flag has a neon green background (to stand out in public places) and a centered

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is often called Earth's "twin" or "sister" planet for having almost the same size and mass, and the closest orbit to Earth's. While both are rocky planets, Venus has an atmosphere much thicker ...

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

, and Mars with stroke

symbol A symbol is a mark, Sign (semiotics), sign, or word that indicates, signifies, or is understood as representing an idea, physical object, object, or wikt:relationship, relationship. Symbols allow people to go beyond what is known or seen by cr ...

in black to represent transgender people.

Lindsay design

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, a flag known as the "Trans Flag", created by

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

graphic designer Michelle Lindsay, is used. It consists of two stripes, the top in Sunset Magenta representing female, and the bottom in Ocean Blue representing male, with a tripled Venus, Mars, and Mars with stroke symbol representing transgender people, overlaying them. This Trans Flag was first used by the Ottawa-area trans community for Ottawa's 2010 edition of the Trans Day of Remembrance. This event included a ceremony in which the Ottawa Police unveiled and raised this flag. The ceremony was repeated during the 2011 Ottawa and

Gatineau Gatineau ( ; ) is a city in southwestern Quebec, Canada. It is located on the northern bank of the Ottawa River, directly across from Ottawa, Ontario. Gatineau is the largest city in the Outaouais administrative region of Quebec and is also p ...

editions of the Trans Day of Remembrance, this time joined by the Ottawa Paramedics,

Ottawa City Hall The current Ottawa City Hall () is the city hall of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The downtown complex consists of two connected buildings: a modern wing located on Laurier Avenue and a 19th-century heritage wing located on Elgin Street. Although ...

and Gatineau City Hall also raising the Trans Flag during their own ceremonies. The list of groups doing official unfurling/raising of the Trans Flag in the Ottawa-Gatineau area as part of their Trans Day of Remembrance has grown each year. The Trans Flag has also been used as part of the

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Pride Parade.

Kaleidoscope

In 2014, a new transgender flag known as the "Trans Kaleidoscope" was created by members of the Toronto Trans Alliance (TTA). It was raised at the first Transgender Day of Remembrance ceremony at

Toronto City Hall The Toronto City Hall, or New City Hall, is the seat of the municipal government of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and one of the city's most distinctive landmarks. Designed by Viljo Revell and engineered by Hannskarl Bandel, the building opened in ...

on 20 November 2014. Controversially, TTA members voted for this flag rather than the Helms and Lindsay flags, which some felt did not represent them. The flag has not received significant usage since the event. The Trans Kaleidoscope is described on the TTA web site as representing "the range of gender identities across the spectrum", with the individual colours representing: *Pink: women/femaleness *Purple: those who feel their gender identity is a combination of "man" and "woman"; they may consider themselves

bigender Non-binary or genderqueer gender identities are those that are outside the male/female gender binary. Non-binary identities often fall under the transgender umbrella since non-binary people typically identify with a gender that is differ ...

*Green: those who feel their gender identity is neither "man" nor "woman"; they may consider themselves

*Blue: men/maleness *Yellow:

intersex Intersex people are those born with any of several sex characteristics, including chromosome patterns, gonads, or genitals that, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit typical binar ...

"The new white symbol with a black border is an extension of the Trans symbol with the male and female symbols, a combined symbol representing those with a gender identity combining male and female and a plain pole (with neither arrow nor bar) representing those with a gender identity that is neither male nor female, embodying awareness and inclusion of all."

References

External links

* {{LGBTQ, culture LGBTQ flags Activism flags Transgender culture Flags introduced in 1999 LGBTQ symbols