The rainbow flag with added black and brown stripes (at the top, above the red stripe) was first hoisted in Philadelphia on 8 June 20171,2, as part of a campaign named More Color More Pride2,3, which was aimed to turn public attention to the issues specific for LGBT "people of color" (of African and/or Latino origin), who often face neglect and even racism even within the LGBT community. The new flag had produced the whole range of reactions4,5,6,7,8: the opponents of the idea insisted that the rainbow colors are already a complete symbol of inclusion, so black and brown stripes were unnecessary, or even divisive, while its supporters thought that not only the addressed issues are real, but also found the others to point out, such as the pronounced homophobia among the people of color themselves. As the polls revealed8, LGBT people were rather divided over the new flag, the level of support varying in different sub-groups of the population, LGBT people of color being nearly evenly divided themselves. Regardless of all opinions, the flag did catch on and was used in Philadelphia in 2018 again9, as well as in other places, such as Washington, DC10 and Athens, Ohio11. All of these examples, as well as many others12, reveal that the shades of rainbow colors vary a lot on this flag as well, and so does the shade of brown (the shades used in the presented image are the approximations of those seen in the photos of original flag). Tomislav Todorović, 27 July 2018 Sources: 1: Philly Gay Calendar at Twitter - Post on 8 June 2017 2: GayWrites blog - Post on 9 June 2017 3: CNN website - News report on 13 June 2017 4: LGBTQ Nation website 5: NBC News website 6: Gay San Diego website 7: BET.com website 8: BuzzFeed News website 9: Philly Gay Calendar at Twitter - Post on 24 July 2018 10: The DC Center for the LGBT Community at Twitter - Post on 8 June 2018 11: Ohio University website 12: #morecolormorepride photos at Twitter
During further spreading outside the USA, this has also become one of the "no right side up" flags. The earliest currently verified occasion was the Toronto Pride Parade 2018, where the flag with reversed color order (purple at the top, black at the bottom) is clearly visible, but another one with the original order could also be seen in the background. [1] Still the original color order seems to prevail, having spread as such to the UK, where it was used in 2019 at the Cambridge Pride in June, [2] the Pride in London in July [3] and the Brighton Pride in August. [4] The flag was also used at the UK Black Pride 2019, which took place at Hackney, London, on 5 July 2019, [5,6] the reports from this event being important for defining the "people of color" in the broadest sense possible - African, Asian, Caribbean, Middle Eastern and Latin American origin, all of whom seem to have been present, according to the photos.
The addition of black and brown stripes to the Rainbow Flag has inspired a more complex design which is also intended to present "people of color": six-striped Rainbow Flag, with red at the top, bearing a large black disk in center (diameter only slightly smaller than the flag width) charged with a large fist in six colors of human skin, arranged from the lightest (close to a typical European-Caucasian skin color) at the top to the darkest (very dark brown, a typical Negroid skin color) at the bottom.The positions of partition lines within the fist correspond to those between the rainbow colors. The design, which is usually called QPOC Pride Flag (QPOC = Queer People of Color), still mostly appears as the Web graphics, however several photos are also available online. These mostly appear at the online shops like this: https://www.amazon.com/QPOC-Pride-Flag-3x5-Foot/dp/B07F1KVS5J, but the flag use is also verified, for it was carried at the San Francisco Pride 2019, which took place on 29-30 June. The report from the event being available here: https://news.yahoo.com/scenes-2019-pride-parade-celebration-041146247.html (photo: https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/bouFWurpJ3T2b7VrVC45ag--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTcwNQ--/https://media.zenfs.com/en/hoodline_545/94b74924a47d78d0bdf19d38a6bafd39). A much better view of the flag is provided by a photo available here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/32029534@N00/48498398707, which was taken on 29 July 2019 at an unspecified location, but the tags associated with the photo, as well as the groups to which it has been added, reveal that it was in San Francisco area. Tomislav Todorović, 11 March 2020
There seems to be an additional variant featuring a black closed fist facing towards the fly with an inscription in the bottom purple stripe, in white lettering reading something like "international socialist" and below the website's URL socialistworker.org. The online article is dated 4 July 2018 and its file name indicates it was taken on the Brooklyn Bridge. Esteban Rivera, 10 April 2023 Sources:
On 1 June 2018, a newly created flag was raised in Seattle to mark the beginning of the Pride Month. It combines the Rainbow Flag with the transgender flag by Monica Helms from which the three stripes in pale blue, pink and white are added above the rainbow stripes, and adds the black and brown stripes to the flag top to represent the people of color, as used on the flag introduced in Philadelphia in June 2017. The flag thus created is intended to symbolize the inclusion of the largest variety of identities. As its photos reveal, the ratio matched that of the USA national flag. Tomislav Todorović, 28 July 2018 Sources:
1. Capitol Hill Seattle Blog
2. Seattle Gay Scene website
3. Seattle Gay News website
Although a modified arrangement of colors was introduced in 2023 [see below], this design was not abandoned; it was used, for example, at the Calgary Pride 2023. [1,2] Tomislav Todorović, 19 November 2023 Sources:
[1] Flickr - Photo from Calgary Pride, on 3 September 2023: https://www.flickr.com/photos/zakna/53165687250/
[2] Flickr - Photo from Calgary Pride, on 3 September 2023: https://www.flickr.com/photos/bencito_traveller/53215756487/
image by Tomislav Todorović, 19 November 2023
In 2023, another variant of the flag with 11 horizontal stripes was introduced. There, pale blue, pink and white stripes were at the top, followed by black, brown and rainbow (red to purple) stripes. The earliest recorded appearance of the design was at the Toronto Pride in June, [1] followed by the San Francisco Pride shortly afterwards, [2,3] and the Calgary Pride in September. [4,5] The color shades varied somewhat, but were generally lighter than on the flag with the reversed position of black and brown and the transgender colors, which was, for example, also used in Calgary [see above]. Tomislav Todorović, 19 November 2023 Sources:
[1] Flickr - Photo from Toronto Pride, on 24 June 2023: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rainersoegtrop/53016046861/
[2] Flickr - Photo from San Francisco Pride, on 25 June 2023: https://www.flickr.com/photos/dougsf/53002022309/
[3] Flickr - Photo from San Francisco Pride, on 25 June 2023: https://www.flickr.com/photos/dougsf/53002022264/
[4] Flickr - Photo from Calgary Pride, on 3 September 2023: https://www.flickr.com/photos/zakna/53165423084/
[5] Flickr - Photo from Calgary Pride, on 3 September 2023: https://www.flickr.com/photos/zakna/53164648587/
![[Rainbow flag for people of color]](../images/q/qq-rbpoc.gif)
![[Rainbow flag for people of color]](../images/q/qq-rbpoc_r.gif)
![[Rainbow flag for people of color]](../images/q/qq-qpoc.png)
![[Rainbow flag for people of color]](../images/q/qq-qpoc2.jpg)
![[Rainbow flag for transgender and people of color]](../images/q/qq-rtgpc.gif)
![[Rainbow flag for transgender and people of color variant]](../images/q/qq-rtgpc1.gif)
![[New Pride Rainbow flag for transgender and people of color]](../images/q/qq-newpr.gif)
