1. Understanding colour symbolism
Flags
Understanding colour symbolism
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2. What is a flag?
Class discussion: what do students think a flag is? What’s its purpose? Is it just about countries? Students could think about the prevalence of flags during sporting events, as an example.

3. LGBT Pride Flags
The first LGBT pride flag was flown on June 25, 1978 in the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade.
Why Rainbow?
The designer, Gilbert Baker, is said to have been inspired by the flags flown at college demonstrations for world peace in the 1960s.
These flags were called the Flag of the Races or the Flag of the Human Race. They had with five horizontal stripes: red, black, brown, yellow, and white.
Baker is also said to have been inspired by the song, ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’, sung by Judy Garland- who died shortly before the Stonewall Riots which kickstarted the modern LGBT rights movement.

4. indigo/blue: serenity/harmony
Colour Symbolism
hot pink: sexuality
red: life
orange: healing
yellow: sunlight
green: nature
turquoise: art
indigo/blue: serenity/harmony
violet: spirit
The original flag had eight stripes. The two flags flown in the San Francisco Gay Freedom day Parade were hand-dyed and stitched by thirty volunteers.
As demand rose - following the assassination of Harvey Milk, an openly gay city official, in November of that year- mass production meant the hot pink stripe was dropped due to a scarcity of that fabric.
A year later, the turquoise stripe was also dropped, as the uneven number of stripes made hanging the flags difficult.
Students could discuss how well they think each colour fits what it represents. What other colours might they choose instead?

5. This is the flag as used today
The flag is typically used to indicate LGBT+ pride as a whole – though it’s also frequently used to represent gay pride.
Other members of the LGBT+ communities have since designed their own flags to represent their own identities.
See if you can match the identities, the flags and the reasons behind the colours.

6. Your Flag
Now it’s your turn! Design a flag to represent an aspect of your identity. You need to think carefully about the colours you use, and explain them in your design. What do they represent? Why have you chosen them?
Students can use ANY aspect of their identity: race, nationality, gender, sexuality, hobbies, interests, or a mix of their different identities. It may be useful to share ideas with the class before they begin independent work on this activity.