California gay flag

I discovered the depth of their power, their transcendent, transformational quality. Listen to DJs spin at the Arenas District Block Party and watch the iconic Pride Parade and Festival along Palm Canyon Drive.

Orange County has long been a premier destination for LGBTQ+ tourism, and the OC Pride Parade & Festival will take place on Sept.

We stocked two versions. Participating afterparties that evening include DJs and bands at a local tavern and a Dress-in-Drag party.

Central Coast Pride

Get the party going early at Central Coast Pride, with events that stretch throughout the months of May and June in the towns of San Luis Obispo, Atascadero, Cambria, and Los Osos.

7. Greater Palm Springs Pride will hold celebrations Nov. 6–9. Families can enjoy Fabulous Fables at the Santa Monica Pier, offering drag queen and king storytelling, face painting, and performances. The full slate of events can be found on the Napa Pride website. 

San Francisco Bay Area Pride

San Francisco Pride made “Queer Joy is Resistance” the 2025 theme for this massive annual festival on June 28–29.

(The city-state had just celebrated its Pride festival, Pink Dot.)

Sadly, the symbol can also provoke hate: In 2023, Laura Ann Carleton, who proudly hung the flag at her store in Cedar Glen, California, was murdered by a man who had frequently posted anti-LGBTQ content online.

In the late 1970s, I was in junior high in a Kansas City suburb, filled with confusion and shame about my attraction to boys, with nary an idea that one day I might be a proud gay man—and a dad, to boot.

He quickly became well known for his sewing skills and flamboyant creations, such as drag costumes and political banners for street demonstrations. As an icon, the rainbow shows up everywhere, from the windows of queer-friendly businesses to the design collection of New York’s Museum of Modern Art, from multicolored city crosswalks to the façade of the White House, which the Obama administration lit up to commemorate the legalization of same-sex marriage in 2015.

It is derived from the State of California flag by replacing the bottom red stripe with the pattern of the Monica Helms' transgender flag.

The total width of these stripes is about 1/5 of the flag width, as opposed to the 1/6 of the stripe on the state flag. Watch colorful floats and musical acts make their way from Southside Park to the State Capitol—or pre-register to join the march yourself.

Sonoma County Pride

The 40th annual Sonoma County Pride theme is “Forty and Fierce” to honor the trailblazers who paved the way, the progress achieved, and the vibrant future being built together.

Highlights include Pride on the Promenade on June 21, a lively street festival with live music, games, and a pop-up marketplace showcasing LGBTQ+ artists and businesses. One popular version, which we stocked, was to simply replace the star with an inverted triangle and to change the stripe to pink. Thankfully, in the bakery, I spotted a slice of rainbow cake, the perfect symbol for our modern family.

Looking back, I see the genius in Baker’s vision, that after years and years of persecution, a movement for equality could make room for joy and love in a panoply of expressions.

Currently, the best reconstruction of this flag can be found at aguynamedlewis.deviantart.com/#/art/California-Gay-Pride-Flag-373513726?hf=1.

Although the rainbow color shades vary a bit from the usual ones there, it shall be borne on mind that they are not fixed. Some examples of how it might have looked may be found at cltampa.com/dailyloaf/archives/2012/06/05/proposition-8-marriage-equality-fight-headed-for-the-supreme-court#.UiMAkX_cDm0 and leftyliberal.com/lgbt-rights, but the red and purple stripes are shown narrower than the others, so the charges are not positioned where they ought to be on a complete rainbow flag.

The multi-week celebration includes dozens of community-hosted events throughout San Luis Obispo (SLO) County, culminating in the main Pridefest weekend, from May 30–June 1. 

Los Angeles County Pride Events

Los Angeles was the first city in the world to host a permitted gay pride parade, and you can experience history in action with the 55th annual event on June 8.

Other versions were fabricated upon request, but never stocked.
Jim Ferrigan, 30 October 2002

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Pink stripe and triangle flag

image by Tomislav Todorovic, 1 September 2013

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Six-striped flag

image by Tomislav Todorovic, 1 September 2013

This flag has the bear and star from the state flag on the rainbow field with red stripe at the bottom; no mention was made of the inscription, but as an integral part of the state flag, it was probably there, too.

The other differences from the state flag include: more oblong ratio (3:5 as opposed to the original 2:3), darker shades of most colors and the lack of darker outline around the grass plot.
Tomislav Todorovic, 9 July 2017