Intersex-Inclusive Progress Pride Flag at the Smithsonian

In 2023, Cooper Hewitt hung the Intersex-Inclusive Progress Pride flag on its south-facing facade. The installation celebrates LGBTQ+ Pride Month and demonstrates the evolution of inclusivity in the design of Pride flags.

The Pride flag, of many stripes and colors, hangs from the balcony of a blocky, Georgian-style mansion with foliage covering and around it.

The Intersex-Inclusive Progress Pride flag, installed at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in the Arthur Ross Terrace & Garden. Installation produced by Molly Engelman and Dillon Goldschlag. Photo by Ann Sunwoo.

Close-up view of the Pride flag, of many stripes and colors, hanging from the balcony of an ornate mansion with foliage covering it.

Designed in 2021 by Valentino Vecchietti, the Intersex-Inclusive Progress Pride flag incorporates a field of yellow and a purple circle—the elements of the intersex flag designed in 2013 by Morgan Carpenter—to symbolize intersex inclusion. The yellow represents an alternative to blue and pink, often associated with the male/female gender binary. The circle symbolizes wholeness and expresses the need for autonomy and integrity.

Imposed from the left on six horizontal stripes of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple, is a chevron that starts with a field of yellow superimposed with a purple circle followed by angled stripes of white, pink, light blue, brown, and black.

The Intersex-Inclusive Progress Pride Flag. Courtesy of the designer.

The Pride Progress flag is itself a layering of queer flags and graphics. Observing the ubiquitous six-striped rainbow flag, the Pride Progress flag elevates additional, intersectional identities with an overlaid chevron, striped in white, pink, blue, brown, and black. It was introduced by Daniel Quasar in 2018. The white, pink, and blue stripes reference the Transgender Pride Flag, designed by Monica Helms in 1999 and playing on the traditional gendering of the colors pink and boy for girls and boys with white representing those who operate outside of that cisgender binary; the brown and black are inspired by the Philadelphia Pride Flag introduced at Philadelphia Pride in 2017 to honor queer people of color.

Vecchietti commented on their motivation to create the new design including intersex identity: “#intersex inclusion we need to [see] it!” Changes to the traditional Pride flag reflect ongoing triumphs, struggles, and acceptance of marginalized communities within the broader LGBTQ+ community. As journalist Shar Jossell notes in Them, “The circle that Vecchietti added to the Pride flag isn’t just a statement of inclusion, it’s a symbol of an ongoing human rights struggle.”

On June 11, 2023, the Smithsonian Institution flew the Intersex-Inclusive Progress Pride flag above the Castle in Washington, DC. Through advocacy from Smithsonian Pride Alliance, this marks the first time in its history that the Smithsonian has formally raised a Pride flag on its DC campus. The flag was also flown at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.

The flag being raised at the National Museum of American History. Photo credit: Jaclyn Nash

Security officers raising the flag at the National Museum of American History. Photo credit: Jaclyn Nash

The United States and Intersex-Inclusive Progress Pride flags intertwining in the sky above the National Museum of American History. Photo credit: Jaclyn Nash.

Kelsey Wiggins, Collections Specialist at the National Museum of American History and Secretary of Smithsonian Pride Alliance, and Anthea Hartig, Director of the National Museum of American History. Photo credit: Jaclyn Nash

Photo credit: Brittany M. Hance, Smithsonian Institution

Photo credit: James D. Tiller, Smithsonian Institution

Three flags, stacked on one flagpole, wave over a brownstone tower. — Flags of the United States, the Smithsonian Institution, and Intersex-Inclusive Progress Pride fly against a blue sky of the Smithsonian Castle. Photo credit: James D. Tiller, Smithsonian Institution.

Before a pale blue sky, an individual wearing a “PRIDE” t-shirt operates a camera. — Behind-the-scenes documentation of James Tiller photographing the intersex-inclusive Pride Flag flying over the Smithsonian Castle. Photo credit: Phillip R. Lee, Smithsonian Institution.

A person with green hair and rainbow–tie dye shirt is pictured, from behind, gazes at the brownstone Smithsonian Castle before them. — Brittany Hance adding extra color behind the scenes of Pride festivities at the Smithsonian. Photo credit: Phillip R. Lee, Smithsonian Institution.

A person with green hair and rainbow–tie dye shirt sits in grass taking a photograph, with the US Capitol building in the distance. — Behind-the-scenes documentation of Brittany Hance photographing the intersex-inclusive Pride Flag flying over the Smithsonian Castle. Photo credit: Phillip R. Lee, Smithsonian Institution.

Two light-skinned individuals wearing colorful “PRIDE” t-shirts stand smiling before the brownstone Smithsonian Castle. — Brittany Hance and James Tiller at the Smithsonian Castle. Photo credit: Phillip R. Lee, Smithsonian Institution.

SOURCES & FURTHER READING

Carpenter, Morgan. “An Intersex Flag.” Intersex Human Rights Australia, first posted July 5, 2013, updated June 20, 2019. https://ihra.org.au/22773/an-intersex-flag/.