Navy veteran shares inspiring story of how she created the first-ever transgender pride flag
The trans pride flag was created by Monica Helms (L) in 1999 and first flown at a pride parade in 2000. (Getty/Wikimedia Commons)
The transgender pride flag is pretty recognisable nowadays, with many people able to discern that those distinctive blue, white, and pink stripes are representative of the trans community.
But did you know that it was actually a veteran who created it?
Navy veteran Monica Helms recently spoke to WYSO, a community-owned radio station, about how she was inspired to create the trans pride flag after a conversation with the creator of the bisexual pride flag Michael Page.
“He said, ‘You know, the trans community could use a flag, too’. And I gave it some thought, and he said, ‘But you got to keep it simple because the least amount of stitches, the cheaper it is for them to sell it’,” Helms explained.
At the time, it was only the original rainbow pride flag, which was created by Gilbert Baker, and the bisexual pride flag that were in existence. Now, of course, there are hundreds of flags around but Helms was starting almost from scratch.
“It was about two weeks later. I woke up one morning, and the image of the falg came to me. So I got up, drew it out, and said, ‘That looks good’,” Helms continued, adding that she worked with the manufacturers of the bisexual pride flag to create the first prototype.
People would come up to Helms to ask her about her flag and it just kept “building and building” until it became a widespread symbol of the trans community.
Helms said: “It was not until 2013 that I started seeing the flag and the colours at Pride events worldwide, and I thought, ‘Oh my God, it’s catching on. People are using it’.”
That first trans flag that Helms owned was donated to the Smithsonian Museum in 2014, 15 years after she first created it, as a significant part of LGBTQ+ history.
Helms, as a trans woman herself, is incredibly happy to have created something special for her community.
“I feel very happy that I gave people something to rally around and show their pride in being trans or non-binary. Not only that, my flag started a tradition of people coming up with their own flags. There are like 92 different flags now in our community. And I hope to think that I was the one that got it started,” she said.
