Gilbert Baker's efforts to promote the use of his original eight-striped design, which did have some success, albeit limited, also seem to have had interesting side effects - revival of interest in the original seven-striped variant, but also the creation of another seven-striped variant, which keeps pink and omits turquoise color. It has appeared at Guatemala Pride 2012 (Orgullo Guatemala 2012) in Guatemala City, on 30 June 2012. The photos are available here, here and here. Tomislav Todorović, 7 September 2014
image by Tomislav Todorović, 7 September 2014
An earlier photo, from the Guatemala Pride 2011 (Orgullo Guatemala 2011), can be seen here (image), but it shows the variant with reversed order of colors. The same flag was used at the celebration of the International Day Against Homophobia in Guatemala City, on 17 May 2012. Tomislav Todorović, 7 September 2014
image by Tomislav Todorović, 7 September 2014
Even before all these events, a more complex flag with the "pink stripe up" pattern was used at the Santa Cruz Pride 2008, in Santa Cruz, California. Its length was smaller than width and each of seven stripes was ending with a pointed tongue in same color. The photos can be found here, here, here and here. It is possible that there are also earlier flags with this color pattern, which are yet to be discovered. Tomislav Todorović, 7 September 2014
image by Tomislav Todorović, 1 July 2015
Another flag with the same colors, but pink placed next to the purple, at the very bottom of the flag, has been used in India since at least 2011. Its photos from Chennai Rainbow Pride 2011 can be found here and here. The flag was used again at Chennai Rainbow Pride 2012, as shown here, and at Chennai Rainbow Pride 2014, as shown here and here. Along with a deep shade of pink, much more so than originally introduced by Gilbert Baker, the flag displays rather dark shades of other colors, except green, which is unusually light for a rainbow flag. Tomislav Todorović, 1 July 2015
image by Tomislav Todorović, 2 September 2018
A recent appearance of this design was at the Gay Pride Parade in San Francisco on 28 June 2015. There, the pattern was seen on the shirt of a participant. Unfortunately, it is difficult to tell whether it was attached to the shirt (i.e. a flag) or its integral part (i.e. a flagoid). Regardless of that, the colors other than pink looked rather like the typical shades of a 6-stripe Rainbow Flag - i.e. blue instead of indigo and/or turquoise, which is also true for the other flags with this design. The shade of pink was very similar to that which appeared on the flag seen in Chennai, India, in 2011-2014 (see above), which differed from this one is visibly different shades of most of other colors, especially green. Tomislav Todorović, 2 September 2018
The same flag has appeared again in Iowa City during the Iowa City Pride Fest 2018 (as seen at https://www.flickr.com/photos/alan-light/41947613075/). The flag was worn as a cape, as is frequently done by the participants of Pride events, with various flags. The same was done at the Iowa City Pride Fest 2019 (as seen at https://www.flickr.com/photos/alan-light/48069784668/). In both cases, most color shades may have looked a bit lighter than on the flag used in San Francisco in 2015, although that could have been the result of the lighting conditions. Tomislav Todorović, 13 May 2022
Another appearance of the design was in Mexico City on 25 June 2018. The flag was brought to the Mexico City Pride by members of Guimel, an organization of Mexican Jewish LGBT people. The photo, which is available here reveals that the color shades were generally the same as seen in San Francisco in 2015, with the exception of blue and purple/violet, which were visibly lighter. Tomislav Todorović, 24 September 2023
The 7-striped version seems to have been re-appearing recently as well. A photo of this flag, hoisted together with the U.S. national flag, can be found here (image). However, the fifth stripe from the top is not blue, which was described as used on the original 7-striped flag, but turquoise, which was the part of original Baker's design. Tomislav Todorović, 1 September 2013
The seven-striped rainbow flag was hoisted in front of the Legislative building in Regina, Saskatchewan, on 9 February 2014, as shown in a video, @ 0:01 - 0:16, available here. A photo of the flag hoisted in front of the building is available at the same page, as well as a close-up of the flag. Another close-up is available here (photo) and another photo showing both the flag and the building can be found at the Saskatoon Pride Festival Facebook pages.
An unrelated photo of hoisting the flag in the USA can be found here (image) and although it is not quite clear, it is possible that the flag was hoisted with the purple stripe at the top. Tomislav Todorović, 24 June 2014 NOTE: Links verified and corrected by Emily Milnei, 15 December 2018.
The flag use is spreading outside the North America as well. As early as in 2007, it was used at Madrid Pride (Orgullo Madrid). The photo of a building flying the flags in honor of the event can be found here. The flag has become especially widespread in India. Its photos from Chennai Pride 2009 can be found here, here and here. A photo from Bengaluru Pride 2009 can be found here. The way the photographed man wears it resembles the shawls in party colors frequently worn by the activists and supporters of political parties in India and might be influenced by that custom. More photos from the Bengaluru Pride 2010 can be found here, here, and here. The flag was also used at Belfast Pride Parade 2013. More photos from New Delhi, taken on 28 November 2014, can be found here, here, here, and here. Tomislav Todorović, 28 June 2015
The flag was also seen in Phuket, Thailand, at the Phuket Pride 2014. Tomislav Todorović, 24 October 2015
image by Tomislav Todorović, 28 June 2015
Just like the 6-striped version, the 7-striped one does not have the "right side up" and may be flown with the reversed color order. Flags with purple stripe at the top, photographed at Chennai Pride 2009, can be seen here, here and here. Their photos from Chennai Pride 2010, sometimes used together with the 6-striped flags, can be found in the photo gallery at Chennai Dost website. Such flags were also seen at Stockholm Pride 2014. Tomislav Todorović, 28 June 2015
The 7-striped flags have also spread into Italy, where they have gained much popularity, possibly due to their similarity with Italian peace flags, which also have 7 stripes in rainbow colors. The fact that they seem to have always been used with "no right side up" also speaks in favour of this assumption, because Italian peace flags have no fixed order of stripes, the orientation of word PACE on a particular flag being the only factor that can determine it. The earliest currently known example of their use is from the Puglia Pride 2003, which took place in Bari. [1] Later, they were used at Venezia Pride 2014, [2-4] but they seem to have gone out of use in Venice afterwards, probably due to the introduction of local LGBT flags, which combine the flag of the Republic of Venice with the (6-striped) Rainbow Flag.
image by António Martins, 15 October 2003; updated by Tomislav Todorović, 1 August 2015
"Now, more than 20 years later, Baker has decided it is time to bring his initial design out of the closet." ... "But the new-old flag, which was unfurled with no fanfare or explanation on Valentine's Day, left many Castro" (San Francisco, Calif., U.S.) "residents and tourists puzzled." ... "the prospect of having to revert to an eight-color flag after more than 20 years of using the six-color version is cause for major headaches." ... "So far, Baker says he does not plan to insist that all the rainbow flags flying in the Castro be changed to show their true colors; only the big one honoring [Harvey] Milk" ... "the nation's first openly gay [politician assassinated] in 1978). 'The idea of the rainbow is what counts,' he says." Knut A. Berg, 9 May 2000
quoting from sfWeekly.COM
However, contrasting written descriptions of the original flag against the currently proposed 8-stripe version suggests that some color shades are noticeably different. António Martins, 1 April 2005
As exposed above, Gilbert Baker has tried to re-introduce the 8-striped version of the Gay Rainbow Flag in 2000. As can be read here, he kept doing so since then: in 2004, he created a collection of flags named "Out 2 Vote" by adding the colors of original Gay Rainbow Flag to the designs of flags of all U.S. states and territories. The whole collection can be viewed at Baker's website. Tomislav Todorović, 1 September 2013
The flag was used in New York City on 12 November 2008, during the demonstration in support of the marriage equality, at the San Francisco Pride on 28 June 2009, at the National Equality March in Washington, DC, on 11 October 2009, and in San Diego, California, in February 2012 (exact date not specified). One of the latest occasions when it was used was in Washington, DC, on 28 April 2015, at the rally during the session of the Supreme Court of the USA at which the arguments were heard concerning whether same-sex marriage is a constitutional right (ruled that it is, on 26 June 2015). The photos from the rally can be found here and here.
The flag is being introduced outside the USA as well. It was used in Sweden, at Stockholm Pride 2008 and Stockholm Pride 2009, and one of the most recent examples of its use was in Riga, Latvia, on 20 June 2015, with the photos available here and here. Tomislav Todorović, 27 June 2015
image by Tomislav Todorović, 1 August 2015
Although usually flown with the pink stripe at the top, the flag is sometimes used with the reversed color order. Such was the case in Detroit, at Motor City Pride 2009. Tomislav Todorović, 1 August 2015
In March 2017, shortly before his death, Gilbert Baker created a new version of the Rainbow Flag, by adding the ninth stripe in lavender color, next to the stripe in hot pink. This color is meant to represent diversity, something Baker thought is endangered in present-day America. He had made 39 copies of this flag with the intention to have them displayed in San Francisco in June, for the 39th anniversary of the Rainbow Flag. A video showing the making of one of these flags can be currently seen at Gilbert Baker website: https://gilbertbaker.com/, and also at the YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ef5sXewQWbA.
The last article, accompanied with even more illustrations, was published in the San Francisco Bay Times issue of 9 March 2017, which can be read online here: https://issuu.com/sfbt/docs/03.09.17_final.small. Tomislav Todorović, 23 December 2017
An unusual rainbow flag with ten colors has appeared at the World Pride London 2012. Its photos can be found here, here, here, and here. The colors are, from top to bottom: red, orange, yellow-orange (much like the FOTW color Y+), yellow, light green (inclining somewhat towards yellow), dark green, light blue (inclining a bit towards green), dark blue, indigo and violet. The flag shape was also unusual: each field was in form of a trapezium with the top edge shorter than the bottom one, so that the fly edge of the flag was in form of 10 pointed tongues. Tomislav Todorović, 5 March 2016
The same flag was used again at London Pride 2017. The photos from event are shown here. Another photo of the same participants can be found here. Tomislav Todorović, 4 October 2018
The earliest currently known use of the flag was at the Leeds Pride 2011. The photos from the event are available here, here, here, and here. As the first of those reveals, the staff top is curved, bending towards the fly edge, so this is actually a feather flag. In fact, it is possible that the flags seen at later events, especially the one from 2012, were also the feather flags, although the photos do not reveal enough details for telling it precisely. Tomislav Todorović, 21 May 2020
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