What Does the Sunset Lesbian Pride Flag Represent?

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Plus, the history of lesbian pride flags & their meanings

Co-authored by Annabelle Reyes

Last Updated: July 24, 2025 Fact Checked

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Sunset Lesbian Flag

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Colors

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History & Older Designs

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Is the Sunset Lesbian Flag problematic?

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Other Common Pride Flags

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FAQs

If you’re a member of the LGBTQ+ community or an ally, you’ve probably seen the Sunset Lesbian Flag before. But what exactly does this flag stand for, and how does it differ from previous designs? If you’re interested in the answers to these questions, you’ve come to the right place! We’ve compiled a complete guide to the Sunset Lesbian Flag, including what it represents, details about the design, and how it compares to older lesbian flags. We’ve also included a brief overview of other LGBTQ+ flags and answered a few FAQs, so keep reading!

Sunset Lesbian Flag 101

The Sunset Lesbian Flag represents lesbian pride. It features 7 horizontal stripes in shades of orange, white, and pink. Blogger Emily Gwen created the design to be more inclusive of gender non-conforming and trans lesbians, as many of them didn’t feel represented by previous lesbian pride flag designs.

Section 1 of 6:

What is the Sunset Lesbian flag?

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Created by non-binary lesbian Emily Gwen in 2018, the design features 7 horizontal stripes in a gradient from deep orange to dark pink. Gwen specifically created the flag to be more inclusive of trans and gender non-conforming lesbians, who had been excluded by older lesbian pride flag designs. Though there still isn’t an “official” lesbian pride flag, Gwen’s Sunset Lesbian flag has been widely accepted and embraced by the lesbian community thanks to its inclusive design.^{[1]
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Section 2 of 6:

Sunset Lesbian Flag Colors

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The colors of the Sunset Lesbian Flag are orange, white, and pink. The stripes form a gradient from deep orange to dark pink, and every shade has its own symbolic meaning. Here’s what each stripe represents, from top to bottom:^{[2]
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- Dark orange: Gender non-conformity
- Orange: Independence
- Light orange: Community
- White: Unique relationships to womanhood
- Pink: Serenity and peace
- Dusty pink: Love and sex
- Dark rose: Femininity^{[3]
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Section 3 of 6:

History of the Lesbian Pride Flag & Older Designs

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The first popular lesbian pride flag was the Labrys Pride Flag. Created by gay male graphic designer Sean Campbell in 1999, the flag featured a white double-headed axe inside a black triangle, all against a purple backdrop. The inverted triangle was a reference to the system Nazis used to identify “asocial” prisoners, which included lesbians and other LGBTQ+ people, and the double-headed axe (labrys) was a weapon linked to ancient matriarchal societies, like the Amazons from Greek mythology.^{[4]
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- The Labrys Pride Flag was popular in the early 2000s, but many lesbians and sapphics eventually started to reject the design for several reasons.
- For example, some lesbians didn’t identify with the fact that the flag was created by a gay man, rather than a member of the lesbian community. Some also objected to the use of Holocaust imagery in the flag, even if it was meant in a subversive way.
- Beyond this, the Labrys Pride Flag eventually became popular among TERFS (trans-exclusionary radical feminists), so many lesbians distanced themselves from the design because they didn’t want to be associated with transphobia.^{[5]
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The next popular iteration was the Lipstick Lesbian Pride Flag. The design was created by blogger Natalie McCray in 2010, and it had 7 stripes in various shades of red and pink with a white stripe separating them in the middle. The original design also featured a lipstick kiss mark in the top left corner, but later variations sometimes left this mark off.^{[6]
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- Like the Labrys flag, this design was met with criticism. Many felt that the term “lipstick lesbian” excluded butch, masc, non-binary, and trans members of the lesbian community, and they didn’t like that the flag was centered around a certain type of femininity.
- The flag became the subject of even more controversy when transphobic, racist, and biphobic posts were found on the designer Natalie McCray’s blog. As a result of all this, many lesbians stopped using the Lipstick Lesbian flag and distanced themselves from it.
- Eventually, Emily Gwen created the Sunset Lesbian flag as a more inclusive, updated version of the Lesbian Pride flag, and Gwen’s version became the widely accepted design.^{[7]
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The first design for the flag was posted by Tumblr user dorian—rutherford in 2016, and another design was later posted by Tumblr user butchspace in 2017. The flag features a gradient of 7 stripes in shades of blue, gray, and purple, and it was created to represent butch positivity and inclusivity within the lesbian community.^{[8]
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There’s also a “Sun” and “Moon” version of the Sunset Lesbian Pride Flag. These flags don’t have specific symbolic meanings aside from lesbian pride in general, and the change in design seems to simply be about aesthetics. The “sun” version of the flag has 7 stripes in a red and orange gradient, while the “moon” version of the flag has 7 stripes in a dark purple to dark pink gradient.^{[9]
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- Some believe that the Moon Lesbian Flag is a symbol for closeted lesbians, but there’s no definitive evidence on this.^{[10]
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Section 4 of 6:

Is the Sunset Lesbian Flag problematic?

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The flag was designed to be inclusive of gender-diverse lesbians, so it’s generally accepted and embraced by most members of the lesbian community. In fact, the Sunset Lesbian flag was created in response to problematic older lesbian pride flags (such as the Labrys Pride Flag and Lipstick Lesbian flag) because they weren’t inclusive of gender non-conforming and trans lesbians.^{[11]
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Section 5 of 6:

Other Common LGBTQ+ Pride Flags

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When you picture a pride flag in your mind’s eye, you’re probably thinking of the Rainbow Flag. This iconic flag was created in 1978 by drag performer Gilbert Baker. It originally featured 8 stripes, but it was later simplified to 6 stripes: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. The flag is a commonly accepted symbol among the LGBTQ+ community.^{[12]
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The Progress Pride Flag is an updated variation of the original Rainbow flag. The flag was created in 2018 by graphic artist Daniel Quasar, and it was intended to honor and highlight queer people of color and the transgender community. The design features an arrow on the left-hand side made up of the colors of the transgender flag, as well as brown and black.^{[13]
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The Bisexual Flag features a thick pink stripe on top and a thick blue stripe on the bottom, separated by a thinner purple stripe in the middle. The pink stripe represents attraction to those of the same gender identity, the purple represents attraction to two genders, and the blue represents attraction to those of a different gender identity.^{[14]
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Research source} The flag was created by Michael Page in 1988 to bring awareness to the bisexual community.^{[15]
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The Transgender Pride Flag was created in 1999 by Monica Helms, a transgender Navy veteran. The design features light blue (the traditional color associated with boys), light pink (the traditional color associated with girls), and white (representing intersex people, people who are transitioning, and those who identify as gender neutral).^{[16]
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The Pansexual Pride Flag was created around 2010 to bring awareness to the pansexual community. It features a pink stripe, representing attraction to women, a blue stripe, representing attraction to men, and a yellow stripe, representing attraction to anyone in between or beyond the gender binary.^{[17]
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The Asexual Pride Flag features stripes in black (representing asexuality), grey (representing grey-asexuality and demi-sexuality), white (non-asexual partners and allies), and purple (community). The design came from a contest held by AVEN (Asexual Visibility and Education Network), and the design was submitted by a user called “standup.”^{[18]
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Section 6 of 6:

FAQs

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What’s the difference between the Lipstick Lesbian and Sunset Lesbian flags? The Lipstick Lesbian Flag has stripes in shades of pink, red, and white, and it originally had a lipstick mark in the top left corner. The Sunset Lesbian flag, on the other hand, features stripes in shades of orange, pink, and white, and there’s no lipstick mark. Beyond this, the Lipstick flag was criticized for excluding butch, masc, trans, and gender-nonconforming lesbians, while the Sunset flag was created especially to be inclusive and accepting of these members of the lesbian community.^{[19]
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What’s the most popular lesbian pride flag? There’s no official lesbian pride flag, but the most widely accepted design is the Sunset Lesbian Flag, created by Emily Gwen in 2018. This flag is the most commonly used among lesbians because it was designed to represent all members of the lesbian community, including trans and gender non-conforming lesbians.^{[20]
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Which lesbian flags are “bad”? Earlier lesbian pride flags like the Labrys Flag and the Lipstick Lesbian Flag have been rejected by many members of the lesbian community because they aren’t fully inclusive. These flags have also been adopted by TERFs (trans-exclusionary radical feminists), so many lesbians have rejected them because they’re now associated with transphobia.^{[21]
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