Today is the anniversary of the day 18 years ago that Navy veteran Monica Helms came up with the design of the transgender pride flag that is increasingly coming into widespread use around the world.
Helms came up with the design in 1999, and first showed it at a pride parade in Phoenix, AZ in 2000.
The Helms trans pride flag is designed so that no matter which way it is held horizontally, it is always correct, signifying us finding correctness in our lives. The blue stripes are for trans masculine persons, the pink for trans feminine persons, and the white center stripe is for those who are intersex, gender non conforming or don't consider themselves to have a gender..
The original trans pride flag she created was donated to the Smithsonian an August 19, 2014 as part of their American LGBTQ history collection, and was on display in the White House during the 2016 LGBT Pride reception hosted by President Obama
Now that we trans peeps are back in the news again because of the reprehensible actions of the Trump misadministration, one of the things I'm seeing that is starting to annoy me is the media use of the rainbow flag chyron in stories that are specifically about transgender issues.
FYI News Media, even though we will sometimes use the overall LGBTQ community rainbow flag at times, we do have a trans specific flag created by a trans person. .
That trans pride flag was created by Monica Helms in August 1999, first flown at a Phoenix, AZ pride parade in 2000, and the original trans pride flag is now in the Smithsonian.
It would be nice if you would use that trans pride flag in stories that are predominately about us like the Trump revocation of the Obama Dear Colleague letters .
If you have any questions about what it looks like, here it is.
So why is today Transgender Pride Flag Day? Time for another TransGriot trans history lesson concerning the Helms trans pride flag.
"August 19, 1999 is when I came up with the design and August 19, 2014 was when I donated it to the Smithsonian, " said Helms in a comment to me. "I'm humbled that it is being used all over the world. I thank the community for that."
The trans pride flag design that flag creator Monica Helms came up with was a light blue, pink and white striped flag that is designed so that even when turned upside down, the stripes are in the correct pattern.
It first flew at a pride parade in Phoenix, AZ in April 2000 as part of the color guard, and since that initial appearance, it appeared at protests, trans themed conferences and events across the United States including the recent White House LGBT Pride Reception.
The Helms transgender pride flag quickly grew in popularity even as variant designs of trans pride flags popped up in Canada and Israel. The Helms trans pride flag since it was the first one, has increasingly been adopted by trans communities in various nations around the world as an internationally recognized symbol of our community.
August 19, 2014 is also the date that the original trans pride flag was donated by Helms to the Smithsonian as part of their permanent LGBT history collection
So Happy Transgender Pride Flag Day! Maybe I'll get some pink lemonade to celebrate this date in trans history.
