this post was submitted on 03 Apr 2024
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That's just wrong. The Rainbow Flag represents LGBT Pride and does not include BIPOC.
I don't know why you don't like the progress flag, but it's not racist and it's not transphobic and it's not segregating. It highlights the diversity of human rights movements and points out that all human rights movements have the same goal and should work together.
So this whole discourse is why I don't like adding to the rainbow flag for specific groups. Once you add a distinction to represent a specific group, every group then wants to be included, creating a giant mess. It's the classic "a camel is a horse designed by a committee" problem.
over 
I understand that every non-cishet group faces their own unique challenges, discrimination, abuse, and hatred, but the whole point of the rainbow flag is to show that we are all united together.
As a trans person who's been harassed and excluded at an LGBT event, I don't feel represented by a rainbow at all anymore. Go do your thing LGB, since I'm not welcome I'm doing mine. If you show me that I'm allowed to be part of you (by putting my thing back into yours) I'm coming back.
Yeah, terfs suck, but that's not the fault of the flag. The rainbow is supposed to be the unifying symbol to unite the various other symbols. The entire purpose is that it doesn't represent ~~an entire~~ any specific group, but the unity of the spectrum of human sexuality. I'm not arguing against the idea of the progress pride flag, I'm simply saying that trying to be inclusive by adding group specific symbols to what is supposed to be a unifying flag is inherently exclusionary, since groups that don't get inclusive symbols included now feel excluded. In fact, i like the idea of adding a pile onto the standard Rainbow flag for people to express their personal identity.
For another example of this dilemma, look at the Union Jack for Terf Island/ The UK. It's supposed to represent the unity of the Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland, yet there are actually 4 countries that make up the UK, with Wales being excluded entirely from the flag. Ensuring every group feels included on an overarching symbol is a never ending battle that will never be enough.
Humans (individually and otherwise) and humanity are constantly growing and developing and changing. There's never going to be an end to where we can go and what we can be, so why would there be an end to our attempts to include and support everyone?
Reminds me that lots of people act like there's some point at which they're done, like they've reached good and can just sit there without any further effort. This is wrong. There is no end. Good is a way of life, not a mark on some paper. We must carry on our efforts, always, never imagining we'll complete the task of "good."
My point being, why not try to evolve a flag? We evolve, the flag evolves. Maybe some time we need a new new one that includes everycritter. We'll always be changing so our expressions of ourselves and our communities will also necessarily change. This isn't a matter of solving an engineering problem once; it's a matter of endlessly varying human nature and expression.
Really hoping I managed to express some of that well 😅 Bit repetitive I guess but I struggle with concision 🤷
A minor point to bring up here, but being transgender is about gender, not sexuality, and I think you unintentionally just highlighted a very good reason why including the trans flag can help make that statement of inclusion and unity.