City Of Sydney Votes To Replace Rainbow Flag With Progress Pride Flag
The City of Sydney Council has voted unanimously to replace the Rainbow flag with the Progress Pride flag.
The decision to fly the new flag was made, according to Lord Mayor Clover Moore, in an effort to be more inclusive and highlight the diversity of the LGBTQI+ community.
In a tweet posted on Monday, Moore wrote: “The Progress Pride Flag better represents the diversity of the LGBTQI+ community…”
The Progress Pride Flag better represents the diversity of the LGBTQI+ community, and was also adopted by the @SydneyMardiGras earlier this year.
— Clover Moore (@CloverMoore) September 20, 2021
“In doing so, the City of Sydney is proudly demonstrating that our precincts are inclusive and safe for all.”
Rainbow Flags Have Flown For 15 Years
The Progress Pride Flag was designed in 2018 by graphic designer Daniel Quasar. The Progress Pride Flag adds five arrow-like stripes to the traditional Rainbow Flag, incorporating a brown and black stripe to represent people of colour and the white, pink and blue stripe of the trans flag, in order to create a more inclusive representation of the LGBTQI+ community.
The City of Sydney will replace the original Rainbow Flag at Taylor Square, Sydney Town Hall, and all other locations where the Rainbow Flag is flown.
Now we will now be flying the Progress Pride Flag, extending that visual celebration to include gay, lesbian, transgender, bisexual, queer, intersex, sexually and gender diverse communities, people of colour and First Nations people in Sydney.
— Clover Moore (@CloverMoore) September 20, 2021
“We have flown rainbow flags and banners at Town Hall, Taylor Square and along Oxford Street during Mardi Gras and at other times of the year for over 15 years,” said Moore, adding, “Now we will now be flying the Progress Pride Flag, extending that visual celebration to include gay, lesbian, transgender, bisexual, queer, intersex, sexually and gender diverse communities, people of colour and First Nations people in Sydney.”
Moore pointed out that earlier this year the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras had adopted the Progress Pride flag as well.
Researcher, writer and activist, Dr Loma Cuevas-Hewitt welcomed the move.
“I’m personally thrilled that the City of Sydney have their finger on the pulse of the contemporary LGBTIQ+ community and have decided to adopt the Progress Pride Flag. As a trans woman of colour, this flag makes me feel much more seen and included than its predecessor,” Dr Cuevas-Hewitt told Star Observer.
For those in the community who have questioned the need for this new pride flag, Dr Cuevas-Hewitt had this to say: “it’s (the rainbow) still there in the new design, but now trans people and queer folks at the intersections have pride of place too. Trans folks were right there alongside cis-gay folks back in the 1970s fighting for gay liberation. Now that the trans liberation movement is coming of age in its own right, I would hope that our cis queer siblings will show us the same support.”
According to Moore, the old flags and banners will be recycled and made into bags.“I’m hopeful they will become treasured mementos, or used by our teams who are delivering food to vulnerable communities during this challenging time.”
The City of Sydney joins many other international cities in flying the more inclusive flag, including Boston, London, and New York City.
Long Overdue! ✔️✔️✔️????????????
This is an insult to the gay community. You are ostracizing us. You are telling us we are bad and need to change.
The so called “Progress” Pride flag is divisive and alienating!
It tries yet fails to lock us all into little boxes separate from one another. The Real Pride Flag included all of us in a vision where each of the colors represented a idea not a fractured and seemingly endless series of self isolating inchoate micro entities!
Progress should mean what it says and this “progress” flag is not that. It screams division!
Bring Back The REAL PRIDE FLAG!
This is wonderful! As supportive and life-giving as LGBTQ+ communities can be, the pushback against this decision shows that much more needs to be done in terms of learning our histories and including those at the margins. Life is still difficult for many LGBTQ+ people in Sydney, and while a change of flag might seem trivial, it’s a wonderful signal of inclusion. The adoption of the flag makes more of us feel safer and more cared about within the LGBTQ+ and Sydney communities that many of us consider home, and to which we contribute.