Symbolises ‘black’ people and their inclusion
Symbolises ‘brown’ people and their inclusion
Life
Healing
Sunlight
Nature
Serenity
Spirit
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In 2017, the City of Philadelphia, USA, added two stripes – a black and a brown one – to the existing rainbow flag to make people of colour feel more represented in the LGBT community, as part of its ‘More Colour, More Pride‘ campaign.
The ‘More Colour, More Pride’ campaign was in response to the reported racism within the LGBT community, and its aim to be more inclusive of non-white LGBT+ people in Philadelphia.
But the resulting flag was met with controversy – which somewhat proved the point behind the ‘More Colour, More Pride’ campaign. Some critics viewed it as unnecessary, as the original rainbow flag was meant to represent people regardless of colour, and original rainbow flag designer Gilbert Baker himself – not long before his death – had readopted the original eight-stripe Pride flag with an added lavender strip at the top to represent ‘diversity’. Some of the more harsher critics – indeed, the ones who might have been the reason for the ‘More Colour, More Pride’ campaign in the first place – demanded a white stripe be added.
The campaign also arose from the reporting that eleven gay bars and nightclubs in Philadelphia were required to take anti-racism training after complaints that the venues were discriminating against non-white patrons.
The updated Philadelphia variant of the rainbow flag would also form the basis for the LGBT+ Progress Flag.