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# Sexual Orientation Flags (Australia)

##

Last modified: 2026-04-11 by ian macdonald
Keywords: leather | heart | stars: southern cross | federation star |
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- National flag in pink
- National flag with rainbow field
- National flag with rainbow canton
- Australian bear pride flag
- Australian leather pride flag
- Bears Canberra
- Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras

See also:

- Australia
- Index of Australian flag pages
- Sexual orientation flags

## National flag in pink

image by Sander Manders, 3 Mar 2007

My wife, who assisted with the gay and lesbian Mardi Gras parade told me that many people in the crowd and parade itself were waving a white and pink version of the Autralian national flag (pink replacing the blue and red).
Marc Pasquin, 4 March 2007

Yesterday, the annual Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Festival in Sydney was held. Many participants and onlookers were waving Australian 'gay pride' flags, which were essentially normal Australian national flags with the blue replaced with a mid-shade of pink. As you can see, it is aesthetically fairly pleasing.
Sander Manders, 3 March 2007

Yesterday, I passed a group of motorcycle riders preparing for this year's parade outside the Sydney Cricket Ground. The route where they were assembling was festooned with these pink flags, but the bikes were each decorated with one of these and a rainbow flag together.
Jonathan Dixon, 2 March 2008

The flag should normally have the ratio 1:2, but is frequently manufactured with the ratio 3:5 [1]. Some manufacturers go one step further, making the canton even less oblong, about 2:3 [2]. Even on flags with the ratio 1:2, the hoist area may look shorter, but that happens if the portion next to the hoist edge is sewn into an ad hoc sleeve, which is an error many people seem to make when they finish a flag without having previously planned a sleeve [3]; such errors may have been misinterpreted as the flag cantons being less oblong than normally. especially if viewed from a distance.
[1] Cass Down Under blog: https://cassdownunder.wordpress.com/2008/03/28/sydney-gay-and-lesbian-mardi-gras-take-1/
[2] Her {Curio} Majesty blog: https://hercuriomajesty.com/2015/03/mardi-gras-glamorous-celebration-differences
[3] Alamy photo archive - Photo of an Australian flag with pink field, taken in Sydney on 2019-02-17: https://www.alamy.com/sydney-australia-17th-feb-2019-a-pink-coloured-australian-flag-flies-high-at-the-gay-lesbian-mardi-gras-fair-day-in-victoria-park-image236925114.html
Tomislav Todorovic, 4 January 2021

## National flag with rainbow field

image by Tomislav Todorovic, 4 January 2021

LGBT-oriented version of Australian national flag, with the field repainted into the rainbow colors, is increasingly being used. On this flag, red is at the top, the field portion in the canton being repainted into red and orange, the Cross of St George and its fimbriation completely covering the corresponding portion of yellow stripe. The flag should normally have the ratio 1:2 [1, 2, 3, 4], but is frequently manufactured with the ratio 3:5, with the canton either having the same ratio [5, 6, 7] or being additionally modified to the ratio 2:3, while still occupying 1/2 of the flag width [8, 9, 10, 11]. As seen in all the presented sources, the flag colors may also vary to some extent, which most frequently happens with green, blue and violet, and there is also some variation of the size and position of the stars, resulting in varying relative positions of the stars points and the lines of partition between the rainbow stripes.
Image of described flag; derived from the SVG image of Australian national flag from Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_Australia.svg
Sources:
[1] Troye Sivan's information account for spain at Twitter - Post on 2016-10-22: https://mobile.twitter.com/TeamTroyeSP/status/789850290551939072
[2] Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras at Facebook - Photo uploaded on 2018-02-18 https://www.facebook.com/sydneymardigras/photos/a.1643442212361496/1643445929027791/?type=3
[3] Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras at Facebook - Photo album from the
NYC Pride March, 2019-06-30: https://www.facebook.com/pg/sydneymardigras/photos/?tab=album&;album_id=2335547683150942
[4] Charles Sturt University website: https://news.csu.edu.au/in-brief/charles-sturt-congratulates-wagga-wagga-mardi-gras-organiser-for-starring-in-documentary
[5] Barewalls photo archive - Photo of a woman holding Australian rainbow flag: https://www.barewalls.com/art-print-poster/female-holding-an-australian-flag_bwc53396244.html
[6] Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras at Facebook - Photo uploaded on 2019-08-09: https://www.facebook.com/sydneymardigras/photos/a.2424088727630170/2424089834296726/?type=3
[7] Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras at Twitter - Post on 2019-08-18: https://twitter.com/sydneymardigras/status/1162884552055902208
[8] myGC.com website: https://www.mygc.com.au/sydney-sparkles-love-rules-mardi-gras
[9] Flickr - Photo of a woman holding Australian rainbow flag, taken on 2017-12-20: https://flickr.com/photos/lovleah/38483635744
[10] Flickr - Photo of a woman holding Australian rainbow flag, taken on 2017-12-24: https://flickr.com/photos/lovleah/39308193131
[11] WWD Studios website: https://wwd.com/fashion-news/fashion-scoops/pride-month-2020-virtual-pride-events-1203657059
Tomislav Todorovic, 4 January 2021

## National flag with rainbow canton

image by Sander Manders, 3 Mar 2007

Another obvious gay pride flag, which consists of the Australian national flag with the Union Jack in the canton replaced by the rainbow flag.
Sander Manders, 3 March 2007

This flag seems to be used very rarely. The only example of its use that can currently be verified is from the Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras 2015. The flag photo is available here (4th photo from the top):
https://www.buzzfeed.com/alexlee/pride-at-sydney-mardi-gras?utm_term=.it9mY8n5k#.lnvpoj75z
Tomislav Todorovic, 13 February 2022

## Australian bear pride flag

by António Martins and M. Schmöger, 24 Aug 2001

This is a "bear pride" variant of the Australian flag with a bear footprint on the Union Jack.
M. Schmöger, 24 Aug 2001

See also:

- Bear pride flag
- The International Bear Brotherhood Flag

## Australian leather pride flag

In September 1989 the first variant of the leather pride flag was seen: An Australian Leather Pride flag with the black-blue-white stripes as the field, the red heart in the canton, and the Australian stars in the fly.
Michael Wilson, 30 Sep 2000

I do not know if the flag had just the Southern Cross or if it included the Federation Star too. The did not include a photo or drawing of the flag. I believe, however, that the flag did have the Federation Star. The following paragraph from the article provides the following details:

> The following September, at the next “Mr. Drummer” contest, one of the most interesting events was the arrival of Clive Platman, a New Zealander in San Francisco to represent Australia in the “Mr. Drummer” finals. He brought with him a new version of the flag, its first major variant. Over the now-established stripes, Laurie Lane of “Laurie Lane’s Leather World”, had appliqued the stars that also appear on Australia’s national flag.

The article leads me to believe that the flag did bear the Federation Star. First, it clearly mentions that the flag bore the stars of the Australian national flag, which one would assume would include all the stars. Second, because the Federation Star is the major difference between the Australian and New Zealand flags, and because the flag was identified as being Australian, one would also assume the Federation Star was included. Third, despite being from New Zealand, Mr. Platman was representing Australia in the contest and brought with him the Australian variant. Should he have brought a New Zealand flag instead while representing Australia, then it would have been a noteworthy event in the contest. Nothing of this sort is mentioned in the article.
Michael Wilson, 03 November 2000

I can confirm that [the Australian leather pride flag] does contain the Federation Star (I spotted one today at Bourke Street, Darlinghurst).
Miles Li, 4 October 2002

## Bears Canberra

image by Tomislav Todorovic, 28 April 2013

image by Tomislav Todorovic, 28 April 2013

Bears Canberra is a social club for "bear" gay men, based in Canberra. Their logo, which can be seen at the homepages of their website, http://www.bearscanberra.org.au (Image: http://www.bearscanberra.org.au/index_files/image455.gif) and their discussion group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BearsCanberra/ (Image: http://xa.yimg.com/kq/groups/18355872/homepage/name/homepage.jpg?type=sn) is modeled to resemble a coat of arms and includes the image of a flag which is divided into two fields by a "north to south" diagonal line, the hoist half displaying the colors of gay rainbow flag and the fly half displaying those of the International Bear Brotherhood Flag, but only six colors instead of seven (only one shade of brown) so as to match the number of hoist stripes. The white stars from the national flag of Australia are placed over all, those over the "bear" colors fimbriated black. While the use of this design for real flags has not been verified so far, it does appear on the club caps and shirts which are offered for sale at the club website: http://www.bearscanberra.org.au/index_files/Page1096.htm, either as the part of the whole logo:
Image #1: http://www.bearscanberra.org.au/index_files/image425.jpg
Image #2: http://www.bearscanberra.org.au/index_files/image427.jpg
or as the standalone emblem: Image: http://www.bearscanberra.org.au/index_files/image423.jpg.
The last example suggests that it is indeed meant to be the club flag. As the logo is embroidered on these items, the stars, being too small to be reproduced by this technique, are omitted from the realized design: Close-up image: http://www.bearscanberra.org.au/index_files/image430.jpg.
Tomislav Todorovic, 28 April 2013

## Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras

image by Tomislav Todorovic, 5 January 2021

Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, the Pride festival in Sydney, first took place in 1978; originally named just Sydney Gay Mardi Gras, it bears its present name since 1990 [1]. Its current logo, introduced in 2012, is an infinity symbol composed of two conjoined heart shapes, symbolizing "Infinite Love", which was also the motto of the 2012 event [1]. While nothing seems to have been officially announced about that, it is worth noting that the logo also resembles a butterfly, the animal which symbolizes "coming out" [2] and was frequently depicted on the Mardi Gras official posters and other related media since the beginning of its history [1]. The rainbow flag charged with white logo is used not only during the festival [3, 4, 5, 6], but also at the other events where the Mardi Gras is to be represented [7]. Small number of photos currently available online, the earliest of those dating from 2015 [7], suggests that the flag is still not widely used, as well as that its introduction took place several years after the logo had been introduced. While the color shades seem to vary somewhat, the logo is always depicted as occupying two-thirds of flag width.
Sources:
[1] Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras website - Timeline: https://www.mardigras.org.au/timeline
[2] Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras at Facebook - Image uploaded on 2020-12-26: https://www.facebook.com/sydneymardigras/photos/a.111068832265516/3629069447132086/?type=3
[3] Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras at Facebook - Photo uploaded on 2016-02-20: https://www.facebook.com/sydneymardigras/photos/a.111068832265516/997702793602111/?type=3
[4] Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras at Facebook - Photo uploaded on 2016-09-27:
https://www.facebook.com/sydneymardigras/photos/a.1145693432136379/1145695382136184/?type=3
[5] Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras at Facebook - Photo uploaded on 2017-09-10: https://www.facebook.com/sydneymardigras/photos/a.1489426464429739/1489431234429262/?type=3
[6] Culture Trip website: https://theculturetrip.com/pacific/australia/articles/a-beginners-guide-to-sydney-mardi-gras
[7] Star Observer magazine website - Report from St Patrick's Day 2015 celebration in Sydney: https://www.starobserver.com.au/news/national-news/new-south-wales-news/sydneys-irish-mardi-gras-entry-awarded-top-float-at-entirely-different-parade/133991
Tomislav Todorovic, 5 January 2021

iamge by Marc Pasquin, 3 March 2023

The 45th Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade took place last weekend.
As per tradition, the "78ers" were the second float, the first float being the LGBT+ Indigenous Australians one.
The 78ers are people who took part in the first LGBT+ equal-rights march back in 1978. Hundreds were arrested and their identities & occupations were published the next day by some local newspapers, leading to many being forcibly outed and losing their jobs. For this reason, they are honoured each year, with those who are still able to marching in front of a double-decker bus carrying other, less mobile 78ers.
The flag flown by the 78ers has a black field with a downward pointing pink triangle centered on it. I haven't been able to find a designer or date of adoption though "pink and black" has been used for a number of years by them.
Source of picture: ABC (Australia, video is geoblocked in other countries)
Background: https://www.78ers.org.au/the-78ers

Marc Pasquin, 3 March 2023

images by Tomislav Todorovic, 28 March 2026

By late 2024, two new variants of the flag had appeared. Both of them have plain monochrome fields, black on one and pink on the other, while the logo remains white.
Source:
Destination NSW website: https://www.destinationnsw.com.au
(photo: https://cdn.sanity.io/images)

Tomislav Todorovic, 28 March 2026