Perhaps you are wondering about the new flag you've been seeing in celebration of Pride Month. The 'Progress' flag was created in response to community demand. Recent redesign initiatives in Philadelphia in 2017 and Seattle in 2018 produced updated banners to be more inclusive of marginalized populations within the community. Revisions to the rainbow flag included adding horizontal black and brown stripes to represent communities of color and light pink, blue, and white stripes to represent people across the gender spectrum. Some also interpret the black and brown stripes to represent those who are living with or have been lost to HIV/AIDS. While these efforts to include historically marginalized communities were generally well received, lingering concerns inspired Daniel Quasar (who uses xe/xyr pronouns) to design the progress pride flag, which features a chevron of the new colors that points into the middle of the rainbow. The new design, which moves beyond inclusion to center previously marginalized identities within the community, “forces the viewer,” Quasar has said, “to reflect on their own feelings towards the original Pride flag and its meaning, as well as the differing opinions on who that flag really represents, while also bringing into clear focus the current needs within our community.”
Quasar’s flag instantly went viral, and xe has since released the design under a Creative Commons license, allowing organizations like CUNY to copy, modify, and distribute the design for non-commercial purposes. A 2024 CUNY Pridefest progress flag has made its way to Hunter College Libraries as a symbol of inclusion, pride, and a reminder “that progress [towards inclusivity] still needs to be made.”
For more on the history of pride flags and Daniel Quasar’s design, see The Progress Pride Flag from the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Image permission details: Daniel Quasar released the file under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 license.
While you're celebrating, why not include some books with relevant themes? We have a host of options at Hunter College Libraries. Here are a few suggestions:
The Stonewall Reader by Jason Baumann (ed.)
Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin
Hijab Butch Blues : A Memoir. by Lamya H
Queer Career : Sexuality and Work in Modern America by Margo Canaday
The Pink Line: Journeys Across the World’s Queer Frontiers by Mark Gevisser
Bi: Bisexual, Pansexual, Fluid, and Nonbinary Youth by Ritch C. Savin-Williams
Nonbinary : Memoirs of Gender and Identity by Micah Rajunov and A. Scott Duane, editors.
I Heard Her Call My Name: A memoir of transition by Lucy Sante
Or, try a search on your own in OneSearch. Simply enter LGBTQ, or another appropriate term or keyword, and hit search. Use the filters on the left to select a Topic/Subject and/or Resource Type. If you want print books only, Limit to Currently on Shelf. If you have a book in mind but you are not able to find it at Hunter, Ask a Librarian. If you are sure it is not at Hunter, expand your search to SUNY collections (Advanced Search), or request a book through Interlibrary Loan.
