Progress or New Progress? How to Pick the Right Pride Flag
If you have ever stood in front of two Pride flags thinking "wait, what's the difference?", you are not alone. The Progress Pride flag and the New Progress Pride flag look almost the same at a glance, and they are our two most-picked flags for a reason. Both say that Pride includes everyone. One just says it a little more completely. Here are the five things to know before you choose.
1. Both start with the rainbow you already know
The six stripes are the classic rainbow flag, the one most people picture when they hear "Pride." Everything that makes these two flags different lives in the arrow on the left side. So whichever you pick, nobody will miss the point.
2. The Progress flag added the arrow in 2018
Designer Daniel Quasar added a chevron of five colors to the rainbow. Black and brown stand for queer people of color, and for the community members living with HIV and those lost to AIDS. Pink, light blue and white come from the transgender flag. The arrow points forward on purpose: progress is still being made.
3. The New Progress flag added intersex people in 2021
Intersex activist Valentino Vecchietti added a yellow triangle with a purple circle into the chevron, taken from the intersex flag. That is the whole difference. Same rainbow, same arrow, one more community written into it. If you have seen a flag with a small purple ring near the left edge, that is the New Progress flag.
4. Neither one is "wrong"
You will not offend anyone with either flag. The Progress flag is still flown everywhere and still means what it meant in 2018. Pick by what you want to say. If you want every letter of the community visibly included, go New Progress. If the 2018 Progress flag is the one your friends, your school or your city already flies, matching it is a choice too.
5. Hang it so the arrow points the right way
The chevron belongs on the side closest to the pole or the wall bracket, pointing out toward the free end of the flag. Hung backwards, the arrow points "back," which is the one way to get this flag wrong. If it is going in a window, face the printed side toward the street, since that is who you are flying it for.
"Pride and spite."Customer, on why they bought
"Our old flag is faded and torn."Customer, on why they bought
These are real answers from our post-purchase survey. Some people buy a flag to celebrate, some to make a point, some because the old one finally gave out. Every one of those is a good reason.
Here is the part that makes the choice easy
Both flags are free. You just cover shipping. Each one is a full 3x5 ft flag, about the size of a twin mattress, big enough to fill a window or cover a wall, not a little desk flag. They ship in plain, discreet packaging, so nothing on the box says what is inside. They are made from recycled materials. And all sales benefit LGBTQ+ charities, so hanging one is a small act of visibility that also funds the people doing the work. Can't decide? Plenty of people take both, one for the window and one for a friend.
