Philadelphia just gave the pride flag an upgrade

Last week, Philadelphia’s Office of LGBT Affairs revealed a new design for the gay pride flag – one with black and brown stripes atop the traditional rainbow. According to the Office’s executive director Amber hikes, this design is “a push for people to start listening to people of color in our community,” whose contributions have gone largely overlooked through history. Reverend Irene Monroe cites the Stonewall Riot of 1969 as one such example.

This design should be considered an upgrade for many reasons. First, this is one of many pride flags highlighting a minority; there are already special designs for bisexual and transgender people, both of which went unopposed within the queer community. According to NBC, the new design is meant to be an “additive inclusion, and is not meant to be a replacement or its own distinct version.” In fact, the creator of the original flag was “open to adaptations.”

Unfortunately, there is still opposition. Since the flag’s unveiling, Hikes has received many complaints, particularly claims that the stripes are “unnecessary” from gay white men. Some have argued that the redesign “corporatizes the pain of qpoc [queer people of color],” while others insist that it “ignores how Philadelphia’s LGBTQ scene is grappling with its own discrimination and intolerance,” citing incidents of hate speech and discriminatory dress codes. It is also important to note that Tierney – the company behind the More Color More Pride campaign – has no people of color on its executive staff.

I cannot speak on behalf of the queer colored community, but the Philadelphia Office seems to be doing incredibly important and innovative work. As CNN reports, “Philadelphia is the first city to publicly and symbolically recognize racial discrimination within the LGBT community.” With the goal of acknowledging and amending the city’s queer-racial tensions, the most iconic symbol of the Pride movement seems like an appropriately symbolic place to start.

This new flag design reflects on and responds to Philadelphia’s shortcomings and struggles. It tells us that the queer community honors its diversity, its history, and its values — and City Hall has never looked better.