Just when we thought nothing could top the rainbow, Portland designer; Daniel Quasar spiced pride month up with the launch for his newly designed LGBTQ Pride flag. Quasar’s flag features multiple new colors, each representing a gender identity/sexual orientation, as well arrows. Quasar’s proposed flag includes the colors of the Trans flag, as well as black and brown stripes harkening back to last year’s Pride flag redesign from Philadelphia, which sought to further represent the queer and Trans identities of black and brown people. Those two stripes also represent those living with HIV/AIDS, people who have passed from the virus and the overall stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS that remains today.
“When the Pride flag was recreated in the last year to include both black/brown stripes as well as the Trans stripes included this year, I wanted to see if there could be more emphasis in the design of the flag to give it more meaning,” Quasar explains on his Kick starter page.
The traditional LGBTQ pride flag, designed in 1978 by San Francisco artist Gilbert Baker, included 6 colors. The new flag keeps the original 6 stripe LGBTQ flag, and then it adds the Trans flag and marginalized community stripes (black and brown) to the Hoist of the flag and it’s given a new arrow shape. Quasar said that the arrow points to the right “to show forward movement, while being along the left edge shows that progress still needs to be made.”
Not everyone is in love with the design. “The New Rainbow Flag is a Design Disaster — But a Triumph for Inclusiveness,” Quartz writes. Some have accused the designer of adding too many colors in an effort to be inclusive, creating a design chaos and destroying the flag’s simplicity.
Still, the flag is a victory for those who care about representation — and us black people because it feels good to belong, officially. Quasar started a kick starter to fund the production of the flag and has already raised $25,000, exceeding the initial $14,000 target. You can find out more information of the flag and donate over here.
