The original flag was designed and manufactured twenty-five years ago and the first time it was carried in a march was during the Arizona Pride festivities of 2,000. It took 10 years for her flag to be in common use across North America and on June 20, 2019, it was raised for the first time on Canada’s Parliament Hill.
The Transgender Pride Flag’s design is intuitively ingenious. According to Helms the idea for the design came to her in a flash of insight – or as a “divine intervention.” A clever colour variation of the Pride Flag that reads like a palindrome. The light blue at the top and the bottom is the iconic “baby boy” colour. The pink above and below the blue is the “baby girl” colour and the line in the middle is white – neither boy nor girl, non-binary or in transition.
When a member of the trans community scans the flag from the top down or the bottom up, they would be able to find their space on the banner and feel included.
During Pride celebrations across Canada, the Transgender Pride Flag has become front and centre. It is flown on International Trans Day of Visibility, and Transgender Week leading up to November 20th - Transgender Remembrance Day.
