Designer gives Pride flag an inclusive makeover
LGBT+ Pride flag.
A designer has “re-booted” the Pride flag to make it more inclusive, by adding a five-coloured chevron to represent queer people of colour as well as the transgender community.
Daniel Quasar, who identifies as queer and non-binary, has made-over the six-coloured rainbow flag, saying he added a five-striped arrow to reflect “all aspects of our community.”
Quasar unveiled the flag as part of a Kickstarter campaign to raise $14,000 (about £10,479) to make an initial batch of 500 copies of the revamped Pride flag, which is called “Progress,” and 1,000 stickers.
They have raised enough money to produce 500 flags (myfairsaturn/Instagram)
The Kickstarter is now fully-funded, but Quasar has set two more targets of $20,000 to make Progress Pride flag enamel pins, and $35,000 for t-shirts.
Quasar’s flag design builds on a version used by the city of Philadelphia in June last year, which added black and brown stripes to the top of the Pride flag so as to include LGBT people of colour.
Quasar has said that the black and brown stripes in his design also reflect those living with AIDs, and those who have died from the virus.
The white, pink, and light blue colours, meanwhile, reflect those of the transgender Pride flag, which was designed by Monica Helms in 1999.
“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 explained on his Kickstarter.
“The initial idea was important because I felt like I could bring something to the table when it came to the way the flag was shifting within the community.
The transgender pride flag (Creative Commons)
“I am a designer and I wanted to make a change where I saw there was an opportunity. A positive change, in my mind at least.”
He added: “We still have movement forward to make. There still is work to be done. I wanted to highlight that.”
Quasar explained that the six-stripe Pride flag is separated from the new stripes “because of their difference in meaning, as well as to shift focus and emphasis to what is important in our current community climate.”
He added: “We need to always keep progress moving forward in all aspects of our community.”
Quasar also said that the arrow pointing to the right is used to “show forward movement, while being along the left edge shows that progress still needs to be made.”
Production of Quasar’s flags will begin in July, and the products will be shipped to those campaigners who donated $40 or more in August.
