The Pride Flag and TRCA

June 20, 2022

We have heard from many of you who asked for more information about the Pride Flag, its history, and what it means to TRCA.

The original Pride flag (left) was first displayed in 1978 as a symbol for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community, and was created by American artist and gay rights activist Gilbert Baker.

For more than 40 years, the flag with its six distinct colours has been an internationally recognized symbol of the LGBT community. In the 1990s, the flag also became a symbol for those fighting for equal rights for the LGBT community.

The six colours of the original Pride flag have the following meanings:

• Red – Life
• Orange – Healing
• Yellow – Sunlight
• Green – Nature
• Blue – Peace/Harmony/Art
• Violet – Spirit

The Pride flag’s evolution continued in 2017, when Philadelphia’s Office of LGBT Affairs added black and brown stripes to recognize people of colour.

Progress Pride Flag

A year later in 2018, the Pride flag was evolved once more by artist Daniel Quasar, who released a redesign called the Progress Pride flag

This version not only included black and brown stripes, but also baby blue, pink, and white, as the colours of the transgender flag.

This Pride flag design combines the transgender flag and marginalized community stripes into a new arrow shape, which points to the right to show forward movement, while also continuing along the left edge to represent the progress that still needs to be made.

Intersex Flag Addition

In 2021, designer Valentino Vecchietti provided a new update to the flag, giving more visibility to the intersex community by including the intersex yellow and purple circle added next to the transgender blue, pink, and white colours.

The intersex flag was originally created by Morgan Carpenter of Intersex Human Rights Australia in 2013.

The intersex flag includes a golden yellow field with a purple circle emblem, as the two colours and use of symbol avoid referencing gender stereotypes. The circle symbolizes both wholeness and our potentialities, and is unbroken.

During Pride Month, TRCA raises the Pride flag, in support and celebration of its diverse Two-Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, intersex and questioning (2SLGBTQ+) communities, at our flagpole locations, including Albion Hills Conservation Park, Black Creek Pioneer Village, Claremont Nature Centre, Glen Haffy Conservation Park, and Indian Line Campground.

The Pride flag represents that as a community we are learning, listening, and making progress, yet we know we have so much more to do.

The Pride flag flies at TRCA’s Claremont Nature Centre.

Use of Pronouns

One way to continue the progress and conversation is to update your TRCA email signature to include your pronouns after your first and last name.

Including your pronouns in your email signature will help others know how you would prefer to be identified and provides a way for us all to get to know each other.

A person’s appearance in terms of gender expression is not indicative of what their gender identity is, and providing pronouns is one way of removing the possibility for judgment on the way someone looks and making assumptions about their gender without knowing them.

View the instructions for updating your email signature.

TRCA’s People First Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Strategic Playbook, which is available on the HR Page on the Staff Hub, focuses on creating a TRCA where all employees are able to reach their full potential and where we can continue to build inclusive programs and services that are reflective of the diverse communities we serve.

We invite you to be a part of the continued conversation, during Pride Month and beyond.