Black Stripes and Symbols Decoded: What Black Means on Modern Flags

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In June 2017, the Philadelphia Office of LGBT Affairs unveiled an altered version of Gilbert Baker’s classic eight-stripe rainbow flag. The design inserted two new bands across the top: one black, one brown. Commissioned alongside design agency Tierney, the update responded directly to long-standing complaints from local activists regarding racial discrimination within queer nightlife and community spaces.

By introducing black to the top margin, the municipal initiative created an immediate international dialogue. Traditionalists argued that Baker’s original 1978 stripes already stood for universal human experiences, such as red for life, orange for healing, and violet for spirit, without needing explicit racial classifications. Activists countered that universalism had practically functioned as an erasure of non-white participants. The black band forced visual acknowledgement. It grounded theoretical inclusion into specific human reality.

Graphic artist Daniel Quasar pushed this evolution further in 2018 by releasing the Progress Pride Flag. Quasar moved the black and brown stripes off the horizontal stack, embedding them into a five-color chevron pointing rightward from the hoist. This repositioning altered the syntax of the flag entirely. The chevron represented forward motion, while its black stripe retained a distinct, dual-layered narrative purpose.