Mayor's Office

For Pride month the City of Madison, in partnership with the County, is flying the Progress flag. This flag was developed in 2018 by non-binary American artist and designer Daniel Quasar, who uses xe/xyr pronouns. Based on the well-known rainbow flag from 1978, the redesign celebrates the diversity of the LGBTQ community and calls for a more inclusive society.

Progress is a reinterpretation of multiple iterations of the Pride flag. The original 'rainbow flag' was created by Gilbert Baker. It originally comprised eight colored stripes stacked on top of each other to evoke a rainbow, a symbol of hope, going through further iterations until it eventually resulted in the six-color rainbow flag most commonly used in the first decades of the 21st century. Baker's flag was embraced, inspiring many designers and activists to create subsequent flags for more specific identities.

Today, there are several Pride flags celebrating the many identities that are part of the LGBTQ community. Recent Pride flag redesigns have aimed to increase the representation of minority identities within the LGBTQ community. In 2017, Philadelphia City Hall revealed a Pride flag including black and brown stripes to highlight discrimination against black and brown members of the community. A year later, Seattle also added black and brown to represent people of color, as well as pink, light blue and white to represent trans, gender non-binary, intersex folks and those across the gender spectrum.

On the Progress flag, Quasar placed the black, brown, light blue, pink and white stripes in the shape of an arrow, on the left of the Progress Pride flag pointing to the right to show forward movement, further emphasizing the need for progress towards inclusivity and purposefully placing discriminated minorities at the forefront. The light blue, pink and white stripes represent trans and non-binary people and the brown and black stripes represent marginalized communities of color. The black stripe also honors those living with AIDS, recognizing the stigma and prejudice surrounding them, as well as those who have been lost to AIDS.

Madison is proud to fly the Progress flag in partnership with the County at the City County building for the entire month of June, and works diligently every day to ensure our community is welcoming and safe for all.