Progress Pride Flag: Quasar 2018 + Vecchietti 2021
The short version
- The Progress Pride Flag was designed by Daniel Quasar in 2018 as an evolution of Gilbert Baker's rainbow flag, adding a 5-colour chevron to centre marginalized communities within LGBTQ+ spaces.
- The chevron's 5 colours: white, pink, light blue (representing the trans community); brown and black (representing queer people of colour, with black also representing those lost to AIDS).
- In 2021, Valentino Vecchietti updated the design with an intersex symbol (yellow triangle + purple circle) on the chevron, creating the Intersex-Inclusive Progress Pride Flag.
- The Intersex-Inclusive Progress Flag is now the version most widely flown at corporate, civic, and community events in 2025-2026.
- The flag isn't a replacement for the rainbow flag, both still circulate. The Progress Flag is meant to keep the rainbow flag's foundation while explicitly including communities the original design didn't visually centre.
We're Delwin and Jimmy, co-founders of Proud Zebra, a queer-owned Canadian small business designing pride pins and accessories from the Lower Mainland, BC. The Progress Pride Flag is our most-requested flag at our pride festival booth. We make it in pin form alongside the classic rainbow flag, those are the two versions we carry.
This guide covers the Progress Pride Flag's design, its 2018 origin, its 2021 intersex-inclusive update, and what each colour represents. It's part of our complete guide to LGBTQ+ pride flags.
What is the Progress Pride Flag?
The Progress Pride Flag is an evolution of the 6-stripe rainbow pride flag, with a 5-colour chevron added to the left side. The chevron explicitly represents trans people, queer people of colour, and (in the 2021 update) intersex people, communities that have historically been underrepresented in mainstream pride imagery.
The flag's structure:
- The 6-stripe rainbow background remains the same: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet.
- The chevron on the left points right, layered on top of the rainbow stripes.
- The chevron contains, from outer to inner: black, brown, light blue, pink, white.
- In the 2021 Intersex-Inclusive version, a yellow triangle with a purple circle sits inside the chevron's white tip.
What do the Progress Pride Flag chevron colours mean?
The Progress Pride Flag's chevron has 5 colours, each with a specific meaning. The 6-stripe rainbow background carries Gilbert Baker's original 1978 meanings (red = life, orange = healing, yellow = sunlight, green = nature, blue = serenity, violet = spirit). The chevron is the new layer on top:
| Chevron colour | Meaning |
|---|---|
| White, pink, light blue | Drawn directly from the transgender pride flag, representing trans people |
| Brown | Queer people of colour, particularly Black and brown LGBTQ+ communities (which includes Indigenous queer folks who may also identify as Two-Spirit) |
| Black | Queer people of colour AND a memorial for those lost to AIDS, particularly during the 1980s-90s epidemic |
The chevron points right (toward the future) intentionally. Quasar designed it to signal that progress for the LGBTQ+ community is ongoing, the rainbow flag represents the community as it stands; the chevron represents the people the community keeps trying to make space for, and the work that's still in motion.
Who designed the Progress Pride Flag?
Daniel Quasar designed the Progress Pride Flag in 2018. Quasar is a non-binary graphic designer (xe/xem) based in Portland, Oregon, who created the design as a personal project and shared it on Kickstarter in June 2018. The flag rapidly went viral and was adopted by major LGBTQ+ organizations, brands, and pride events within months.
Quasar's specific contribution was the chevron addition. The 5-colour chevron was a synthesis of two earlier flag updates: the 2017 Philadelphia Pride flag (which added black and brown stripes above the rainbow) and the 1999 transgender pride flag colours. Quasar combined them into a single chevron pointing right, which gave the design its visual signature.
For ongoing coverage of pride flag evolution and community use, GLAAD maintains updated documentation on the Progress Pride Flag and its variations.
The Kickstarter raised over $24,000 USD against a $14,000 goal, signalling immediate community demand for an updated, more inclusive pride symbol.
What is the Intersex-Inclusive Progress Pride Flag?
In 2021, intersex activist and writer Valentino Vecchietti redesigned the Progress Pride Flag to include an intersex symbol (a yellow triangle with a purple circle) on the white tip of the chevron. The result is called the Intersex-Inclusive Progress Pride Flag, and it's now the most-flown version of the design.
The intersex symbol references the existing intersex pride flag (designed by Morgan Carpenter in 2013). Adding it to the chevron made explicit what was already implicit: intersex people are part of the LGBTQ+ community Progress was designed to centre.
Vecchietti shared the design through Intersex Equality Rights UK in May 2021. Like Quasar's flag three years earlier, the Intersex-Inclusive version was adopted quickly across community spaces, corporate pride campaigns, and civic flag-flying.
"Absolutely adore my progress pride pin! It arrived in beautiful condition and with a lovely thank you card. I'm so glad to have found such a wonderful small business that radiates kindness and support for the LGBTQ+ community!"
Allie, on our Inclusive Pride Love & Peace pin set
We design Inclusive Progress Pride Flag pins, lanyards, and accessories using the 2021 Intersex-Inclusive version. Browse the full pride pins collection for the complete range.
One more milestone for the Intersex-Inclusive design: it's now in the Smithsonian's Cooper Hewitt Design Museum collection, the first pride flag added to the museum's permanent design archive. That formal recognition matters: it places Vecchietti's design alongside the design history canon, not in a separate "queer art" sidebar.
Is the Progress Pride Flag replacing the rainbow flag?
"It was never my intention for my flag to be a replacement for the original Pride flag. All of these flags matter to each person and they're flying them for their own reasons. It just shows the grand diversity and sheer individualism that we have within our community that is so beautiful."
Daniel Quasar (they/ze), designer of the Progress Pride Flag, in conversation with The Trevor Project
No. Both flags still circulate widely, and most LGBTQ+ community spaces consider them complementary rather than competing.
The way many in the community think about it:
- The 6-stripe rainbow is the foundational, universally-recognized symbol. It still gets flown at most pride events, hung outside city halls in June, and used in mass-market pride imagery.
- The Progress Pride Flag is a more specific statement, it explicitly visualizes inclusion of trans, BIPOC, and intersex communities. Organizations and individuals who want that specificity in their pride imagery use it.
Some LGBTQ+ organizations and individuals have moved entirely to Progress; others use both depending on context. Either approach is valid. Both flags coexist in the same way the rainbow and the trans flag coexist as separate-but-related symbols.
Frequently asked questions
Who designed the Progress Pride Flag?
Daniel Quasar, a non-binary graphic designer based in Portland, Oregon, designed the Progress Pride Flag in 2018. Quasar shared the design on Kickstarter in June 2018, where it raised over $24,000 USD against a $14,000 goal. The flag rapidly spread across LGBTQ+ organizations, brands, and pride events within months of release.
What does the chevron on the Progress Pride Flag represent?
The 5-colour chevron represents marginalized communities within LGBTQ+ spaces. The white, pink, and light blue stripes are drawn from the transgender pride flag. The brown stripe represents queer people of colour. The black stripe represents both queer people of colour and a memorial for those lost to AIDS during the 1980s-90s epidemic. The chevron points right to signal that progress is ongoing.
What is the Intersex-Inclusive Progress Pride Flag?
The Intersex-Inclusive Progress Pride Flag is a 2021 update by intersex activist Valentino Vecchietti that adds an intersex symbol (a yellow triangle with a purple circle) to the white tip of Daniel Quasar's chevron. It's now the most-flown version of the Progress design and explicitly includes intersex people within the visual symbolism.
Is the Progress Pride Flag replacing the rainbow flag?
No. Both flags still circulate widely and most LGBTQ+ communities consider them complementary. The 6-stripe rainbow remains the foundational, universally-recognized symbol. The Progress flag is a more specific statement that explicitly visualizes trans, BIPOC, and intersex inclusion. Many organizations use both depending on context.
Who designed the intersex symbol used in the 2021 update?
The intersex symbol (a yellow triangle with a purple circle) was created by Morgan Carpenter for the standalone intersex pride flag in 2013. Valentino Vecchietti incorporated that existing symbol into the Progress Pride Flag chevron in 2021 to create the Intersex-Inclusive version. The colours yellow and purple were chosen specifically because they're absent from common gender-coded colour palettes.
What do all the colours of the Progress Pride Flag mean?
The Progress Pride Flag has 11 colours total: 6 in the rainbow background and 5 in the chevron. The rainbow background carries Gilbert Baker's 1978 meanings: red (life), orange (healing), yellow (sunlight), green (nature), blue (serenity), violet (spirit). The chevron adds: white, pink, and light blue from the transgender pride flag (representing trans people); brown (queer people of colour); and black (queer people of colour plus a memorial for those lost to AIDS). The 2021 Intersex-Inclusive version adds a yellow triangle with a purple circle (the intersex symbol) inside the white tip.
Why does the chevron point right?
The chevron points right to signal forward motion, that progress for marginalized communities within LGBTQ+ spaces is still ongoing. Daniel Quasar designed the chevron's right-facing direction deliberately: the rainbow represents the community as it stands, the chevron represents the people the community keeps working to make space for, and the rightward arrow points toward the future that work is building.
Carrying the flag forward
The Progress Pride Flag has become one of the fastest-adopted pride symbols in the community's history. From Quasar's 2018 Kickstarter to Vecchietti's 2021 intersex update, the flag's evolution shows the community continuing to refine its visual symbols to match what it actually wants them to mean.
If you wear an Inclusive Progress Pride Flag pin, fly the original 6-stripe rainbow, or one of the more specific identity flags from our complete pride flags guide, you're carrying forward a tradition that's now four-plus decades long and still evolving.
We've donated $10,219.58 CAD to LGBTQ+ organizations to date, including Rainbow Refugee, Covenant House Vancouver, BC pride societies, and our charity-pin partners (GLSEN, Out on Screen, CBRC, UNYA; Sayoni previously supported, paused 2025+). See our donations page for the full list. Every order helps that number grow.
Written by Delwin Tan, Co-Founder of Proud Zebra
Published 2026-05-06. Last updated 2026-05-18.
Delwin co-founded Proud Zebra with his partner Jimmy Cheang in late 2020. We're a queer-owned Canadian small business, designing pride pins, stickers, and accessories from the Lower Mainland, BC. We've donated $10,219.58 CAD to LGBTQ+ organizations to date.
