You may recognise the well known gay pride flag; whether that be on social media, tv and parades; but did you know that the LGBTQ+ community have WAY more flags that you can ever have imagined? Each individual flag represents people of every gender and sexuality and have been made in order for every single person on the planet to celebrate who they are and their identities.
Using Google Trends Data, we were able to create a study and find out the most popular LGBTQ+ flag in the United Kingdom. Through an analysis of Google Trends, which evaluates the relative popularity of certain search terms over time on a normalised 0–100 scale, we were able to determine the most popular LGBTQ+ flag in the United Kingdom. The analysis gave us some insightful knowledge and showed us that in fact the Lesbian flag is the most popular with 32,160 Google searches in the past year.
Top 15 list
- Lesbian Flag - 32,160 Google searches
- Bixsexual Flag - 26,832 Google searches
- Asexual Flag - 25,824 Google searches
- Pansexual Flag - 22,596 Google searches
- Pride Flag - 21,216 Google searches
- Straight Flag - 20,592 Google searches
- Transgender Flag - 19,236 Google searches
- Polyamorous Flag - 13,308 Google searches
- Straight Ally Flag - 12,708 Google searches
- Non-Binary Flag - 12,168 Google searches
- Progress Flag - 11,976 Google searches
- Gender Fluid Flag - 10,524 Google searches
- Intersex Flag - 8,928 Google searches
- Polysexual Flag - 7,632 Google searches
- Pony Flag - 6,540 Google searches
*For each search, we took average monthly searches on Google and multiplied these by 12 to give us a full year’s worth of results. Data correct as of Feb 2020 - Feb 2021.
Wondering what each flag represents? Here’s Flagmakers’ guide to pride!
Image credit: credit https://www.warnerbros.com/tv/big-bang-theory
Lesbian Flag
This flag features various shades of pink, white and red to represent women - the colours also represent the independence from men.
Bisexual Flag
This flag was created to give further recognition to bisexual people within the LGBTQ+ community. The lovely thing about this flag is that the stereotypical colours for men (blue) and women (pink) overlapped together creating a purple.
Asexual Flag
This flag acts as an emblem and identifier for people who have a lack of sexual attraction to all genders, the flag also incorporates the colour purple to represent the wider LGBTQ+ community and the place Asexual people have there. The black and grey stand for asexuality and demi-sexuality, whilst the white represents non-asexual partners and allies for the community.
Pansexuality Flag
Pansexuality means an interest in all genders which is why there is a distinct yellow in the middle of this flag to represent non-binary and gender non-conforming people. The magenta stripe represents attraction to those who identify with a female spectrum, the cyan for those who identify on the male spectrum.
Pride Flag
The most known LGBTQ+ flag known worldwide; this is the symbol used by pride parades and LGBTQ+ organisations to represent the history and achievements of the fight for equality. The rainbow design was inspired by Judy Garland’s ‘Over the Rainbow’ and each colour stands for a different component of LGBT life.
Straight Flag
To celebrate heterosexualty, but what is key about this flag is that it is black and white to represent every person no matter the race.
Transgender Flag
Both stripes at the bottom and the top are light blue to represent the traditional colour for baby boys along with the light pink stripes to represent baby girls. There is a white stripe in the middle for those who are intersex, transitioning or who consider themselves having a neutral or undefined gender. What is interesting about the stripes on the flag is that no matter which way you hold the flag up, it is right.
Polyamorous Flag
This flag features the symbol for the infinite number pi, which shares the first letter of ‘polyamory’. This flag celebrates the infinite selection of partners available to polyamorous people. The letter is gold to represent the emotional attachment we have with others as friends and romantic partners.
Straight Ally Flag
This flag is a combination of various symbols, including the straight flag, the traditional rainbow pride flag. The merging of the two is meant to show allyship for the LGBTQ+ community.
Non-Binary flag
The non-Binary flag was created to fly alongside the genderqueer flag with the hope to be more inclusive. It was designed as a symbol of pride and recognition for those whose gender identity does not fit within the traditional male/female binary. The yellow stripe stands for those who fall outside of and without reference to the binary. White is for those with many or all genders and black for those who do not conform to gender normative labels. The purple stripe represents those who identify as a mix of or somewhere between the male and female spectrum.
Progress Flag
This flag shows support and solidarity with marginalised groups, even within the LGBTQ+ community, this design was adopted following a viral Kickstarter campaign. By adding the chevron to the traditional six-colour design, the designer wanted to highlight the further struggles of queer people of colour, those living with HIV/AIDS, and persons in the trans community.
Gender Fluid Flag
The gender fluid flag features colours commonly associated with femininity, masculinity and everything in between. The pink stands for femininity, blue for masculinity, the white represents the lack of gender and the purple just like it’s featured on the bisexual flag represents the combination of both masulinity and femninity. Finally the black symbolises all genders.
Intersex Flag
This flag purposely avoids the use of the traditional pink and blue to represent people who are born with a reproductive/sexual anatomy that doesn’t seem to fit the typical definition of male or female. The yellow background stands for gender neutrality and the purple circle is depicted as unbroken and unornamented, symbolising wholeness and completeness.
Polysexual Flag
Polysexuality is the attraction of multiple genders but not all of them, it is the middle ground between bisexualtiy and pansexuality; so it is centred more around attractions to femininity and masculinity rather than gender itself. The distinct green stripe in the middle of the flag represents an attraction to those who don’t conform to either gender.
Pony Flag
This is a fetish flag designed for people who enjoy pony play where they enjoy being treated like horses by wearing all the horsing gear such as hooves, ears, saddles and pull carts. The black within the represents the leather community.
