Jewish Gay Pride Flag

Overview

Flags of the World's page on LGBQT flags of Israel, whose flag documentation comes chiefly from Tomislav Todorović in posts between 2010 and 2023, records at least six distinct designs circulating under the same general description. This one, a rainbow field with a white Shield of David at the centre, is the earliest of them: first reported in 2009, from a photograph published in El Mundo and a Getty photograph of the Jerusalem parade in June of that year. The contributors record it as created in Israel and subsequently spread abroad. Two of the other five they record as made abroad and introduced into Israel later. ^[2]

Identity & Context

Represented Identity

LGBTQ

Religious Context

Jewish

National Context

Israel, per the only located account of the design's origin

The Commons description calls the artwork "a Jewish variation of the Gay Pride Flag with the Star of David," and the design carries no element of any national flag. That is a description of the artwork rather than of its politics: the only located account of where the design came from places its making in Israel, and the companion Flags of the World page covering the diaspora-origin designs has not been read. ^[1][2]

Creators

Origin

Country

Israel

Recorded as created in Israel, on the land of historic Palestine.

Indigenous land context

Palestinian people — Indigenous population of historic Palestine (Indigenous name: الشعب الفلسطيني (al-shaʿb al-filasṭīnī)). Named on the same principle the archive applies to entries documented in the United States, Canada and Australia, where the land is identified by the people displaced from it and not by the settler state alone. The naming follows Palestinian usage rather than the archive's: alQaws writes of Palestinians' "sense of Indigenous belonging" and calls to "Liberate Indigenous Lands." ^[3] The particular communities, villages and territories this involves are not recorded here. ^[3]

Colonial / settler context

The only located account of this design's origin places its making in Israel, on the land of historic Palestine. The State of Israel was established there in 1948 and has held the West Bank and Gaza under military occupation since 1967. alQaws, the Palestinian organisation for sexual and gender diversity, describes the resulting order as settler colonialism that works "by breaking apart and eliminating Palestinian communities, whether through the military violence of occupation and siege, the legal regimes of apartheid, or the denial of refugees' right of return." ^[4] B'Tselem, the Israeli human rights organisation, states that Israel maintains "a regime of apartheid and occupation" over everyone "living between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea," and that since 7 October 2023 it has been "committing genocide" against the residents of Gaza. ^[5]

That reading is Palestinian in origin rather than a frame applied from outside. alQaws sets it out as their own analysis, developed across "two decades of grassroots organizing in Palestine," and distinguishes it from how "activist circles based in the Global North" have framed the same subject. ^[4] They name Palestinians as the Indigenous people of this land in their own words, writing of "a sense of Indigenous belonging" and closing a Pride-month statement "Abolish Settler States, Liberate Indigenous Lands, Take Back Pride." ^[3] This archive names it for the same reason it names Lenape and Shawnee land under a flag documented in Pittsburgh: a flag made on colonized land is recorded as made on colonized land.

One part of this belongs to a flag archive specifically. Palestinian activists named the use of Israeli LGBTQ rights to deflect scrutiny from the occupation pinkwashing, and alQaws argues it is not merely a marketing strategy: "Pinkwashing is the symptom, settler-colonialism is the root sickness." ^[4] Of Pride itself they write that "Pride in Israel is a state-sponsored propaganda strategy," and that Tel Aviv Pride "takes place in the ethnically cleansed Palestinian city of Yaffa and its surrounding villages." ^[3] In June 2024 alQaws and Queers in Palestine wrote about rainbow flags directly, describing footage "of Israeli soldiers posing with their rainbow flags and other Western gay symbols atop the ruins of our society." ^[6]

This entry records a flag, not a state. Queer people live in Israel as they live everywhere, and this is among their symbols. alQaws's argument is about what Pride symbolism is made to do, and it is reproduced here in their words rather than summarised into the archive's.

Land status

Historic Palestine. The State of Israel was established there in 1948; the West Bank and Gaza have been under Israeli military occupation since 1967.

Indigenous engagement

None. No Palestinian person or organisation has been consulted about this entry; the Palestinian sources cited here are published writing, not consultation.

Continuing presence

Palestinians live in Israel, in the West Bank and Gaza, and in a diaspora produced largely by displacement from this land. alQaws organises across historic Palestine, with offices in Haifa and East Jerusalem, and holds a position on Pride symbolism that is neither government's. ^[4][3]

Pending Review The land-context note is now sourced to alQaws and B'Tselem rather than written from general knowledge. Still wanted: Palestinian historical scholarship for the 1948 and 1967 chronology, which is stated plainly here without a citation. See the private research queue.

Flags of the World's contributors record the design as created in Israel and subsequently spread abroad, the reverse of the migration they record for the rainbow-patterned Shield of David design, which they place as made abroad and introduced into Israel later. That is a contributor conclusion on a signed vexillological page rather than an account by anyone involved in making the flag, and it is the only statement of origin located. The design carries no element of the flag of the State of Israel: its base is the rainbow flag and its charge is the Star of David as a symbol of Jewishness. ^[2]

Dates & Chronology

First public use

June 2009

Period in Use

2009 to the present

Creation Bounds

The design was in use by June 2009: Flags of the World's contributors cite a photograph published in El Mundo and a Getty photograph from the Jerusalem parade of that month. When it was made, and by whom, is not documented. The Wikimedia Commons artwork held here is dated 18 June 2024 and was uploaded in March 2025, which dates that file and not the design. ^[1][2]

Both orientations circulate. Red-topped and violet-topped versions were photographed side by side at Tel Aviv Pride in 2016, and a video from that Pride shows the two carried jointly, which Flags of the World's contributors read as making the design another flag with no right side up. ^[2] They also record it as increasingly used in Israel with purple at the top, citing photographs from Jerusalem Pride in 2011, 2015 and 2016. ^[2]

The Religious Variants page of Flags of the World renders eight further designs under the same general description, and its contributors set out why they call them Jewish rather than Israeli: "The use of flags described below was not recorded in Israel so far." Four of those renderings are held in this entry's gallery. ^[7]

An earlier Israeli emblem is recorded separately: in June 2003 Dov Gutterman reported a device on the website of Agudah, the national GLBT association in Israel, named Keshet Ga'Hava, rainbow of pride. He noted that he did not know whether a flag of it existed, and that the only flags shown in press coverage of the Jerusalem parade that year were plain rainbows. ^[2]

Lineage

Direct predecessors

Rainbow Pride Flag

Related flags

Jewish Progress Pride Flag (Keshet)

Sibling flags

Alberta Gay Flag, Straight Ally Pride Flag, Anarcha-Queer Flag (rainbow variant), Argentina Gay Flag, Australia Gay Flag, Brazil Gay Flag

+ 44 more

British Columbia Gay Flag, Canadian Pride Flag, Chicago Pride Flag (Rainbow Stripes, Purple Stars), Chile Gay Flag, Dominican Republic Gay Flag, Egypt Gay Flag, European Union Gay Flag, France Gay Flag, Gay Pride Flag of Pakistan, Heteroflexible Pride Flag, Heterosexual / Straight Pride Flag, Homoflexible Pride Flag, India Gay Flag, Italy Gay Flag, Japan Gay Flag, Manitoba Gay Flag, Mexico Gay Flag, Netherlands Gay Flag, New Brunswick Gay Flag, Newfoundland Gay Flag, Northwest Territories Gay Flag, Nova Scotia Gay Flag, Nunavut Gay Flag, Ontario Gay Flag, Palestinian Gay Pride Flag, Panama Gay Flag, Philadelphia Pride Flag, Prince Edward Island Gay Flag, Quebec Gay Flag, Rainbow Flag with White Triangle (Sapporo), Rainbow Israel Flag, Rainbow Polish Flag (2014, Angela Getler), Russia Gay Flag, Saskatchewan Gay Flag, Social Justice Pride Flag, South African Gay Pride Flag, Switzerland Gay Flag, Tanzania Gay Flag, Texas Rainbow Flag, Turkish Gay Pride Flag, Two-Spirit Pride Flag (2005, Zoccole), Two-Spirit Pride Flag (2016 Tumblr documentation), Victory Over AIDS Flag (1980s, designer unknown), Yukon Territory Gay Flag

Lineage confidence

unknown

The six-stripe rainbow flag, carried in full, charged at the center with a white Star of David in outline. The Rainbow Israel Flag is a related design — both charge the Star of David — but the two are built differently: that flag derives from the flag of the State of Israel, while this one adds the star directly to the rainbow flag. ^[1]

Lineage tree

Every record reachable from this one through documented parent and child relationships: 4 records across 4 generations.

Ancestors -3

Original Rainbow Flag (1978)

Ancestors -2

Seven-Stripe Rainbow Flag (1978)

Ancestor

Rainbow Pride Flag

This record

Jewish Gay Pride Flag

Colors & Symbolism

No statement of meaning by a designer has been located, none being identified. The design's two elements are the six-stripe rainbow flag and the Star of David as a symbol of Jewishness; the Commons file calls it "a Jewish variation of the Gay Pride Flag with the Star of David". ^[1] What the combination is taken to mean is disputed, and the dispute is set out below. ^[8]

No published statement of meaning has been located beyond the file's description of the design as a Jewish variation of the pride flag. ^[1]

No palette has been published. The repository copy's stripes match the conventional six-stripe values by eye.

Design

Aspect Ratio

3:5 · standard

Orientation

horizontal

Stripe Count

6

Layout

horizontal stripes with central charge

Stripes (Top → Bottom)

Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Violet

Center Symbol

White Star of David, in outline

The six-stripe rainbow, red at the top through violet at the bottom, with a large white Star of David centered on the flag, drawn in outline as two interlaced triangles spanning roughly two thirds of the flag's height. Read from the repository copy, 2048 by 1266 pixels. ^[1]

No construction sheet has been located. The Commons file is 2048 by 1266 pixels, roughly 1.62:1; that is the file's geometry, not a specification. ^[1]

The six-stripe rainbow flag with a large white Star of David in outline at the center.

Usage & Adoption

Geographic Usage

Israel, United States

Event Usage

Jerusalem Pride parade, June 2009, photographed (Getty, via Daylife) and published in El Mundo ^[2], New York Pride Parade 2010, red-topped variant ^[2], Jerusalem Pride 2011, 2015 and 2016 ^[2], Tel Aviv Pride 2016, both orientations carried jointly ^[2], Barred from the Chicago Dyke March 2017 and the D.C. Dyke March 2019 ^[8]

Documented in use at Pride events in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and New York, and documented in the United States chiefly through the disputes over barring it. No use of this particular Commons artwork has been traced; the sightings are of the design. ^[1][2][8]

Image Archive

Renderings

Variants

Discourse & Debates

• The flag has been barred from Queer marches in the United States on the ground that it resembles the flag of Israel. At the Chicago Dyke March in 2017 marchers carrying rainbow flags with Stars of David were asked to leave, organizers saying the flags were too reminiscent of the Israeli flag and "made people feel unsafe". ^[8] The D.C. Dyke March adopted a written policy before its march of 7 June 2019, banning "nationalist symbols", which organizer Yael Horowitz described as flags representing "nations that have specific oppressive tendencies". Organizer Rae Gaines, who is Jewish and a member of the group IfNotNow, wrote that this "includes Israeli flags, as well as flags that resemble Israeli flags, such as a pride flag with a Star of David in the middle", and told the Forward: "The issue is where the Star of David is positioned in a way that looks like an Israeli flag, it creates an unsafe space. It really is a shame that Israel took this symbol of Judaism and turned it into this nationalist symbol. I understand the Jewish pride flag is a symbol that a lot of Jews have come to embrace, but there are so many other Jewish symbols that we can use to express our Judaism, like a Star of David, like a yarmulke, a tallit." American flags were barred as well; Palestinian flags were not. ^[8] A.J. Campbell, formerly director of the lesbian Jewish group Nice Jewish Girls, had asked to take part and was refused. She told the Washington Post: "I've been a Jewish lesbian for a long time, and it's never been a problem. They seem to have very specific ideas about what kind of Jew I'm supposed to be, and I don't feel like they get to say that." She joined A Wider Bridge, the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington and Zioness in a statement calling on the march to apologize and change the policy. ^[8]

Whether these designs are called Jewish or Israeli is itself part of the argument. Flags of the World's contributors separate them on evidence of use, filing as Jewish those designs whose use in Israel they had not confirmed. ^[7] The organizers who barred the flag in 2019 treated it as resembling a national flag; the design carries no element of the flag of the State of Israel, its base being the rainbow flag and its charge the Star of David. ^[1][8]

Footnotes & Citations

Image Sources

• Flags of the World's rendering of this entry's design, drawn by Tomislav Todorović on 6 March 2010. The contributors record the same flag carried in Paris on 27 January 2013 and in London on 3 July 2010, and conclude from those sightings that it should no longer be treated as only Israeli. Both orientations circulate: the variant with red at the top was photographed at the New York Pride Parade in 2010. ^[7] · Credit: Tomislav Todorović / Flags of the World · Flags of the World
• The same layout with the star in blue rather than white. Todorović drew it on 29 August 2011 and dates its recorded use to the Rainbows Festival in Phoenix, Arizona, on 7 October 2006, the Chicago Pride Parade on 29 June 2008, a commemoration at Temple Israel in Boston on 5 August 2009 for the victims of the Tel Aviv gay centre shooting four days earlier, and a photograph taken in Warsaw before 8 June 2010. The Or Chadash Congregation, whose members carried it in Chicago, also sold copies. In most photographs the star is darker than the blue stripe; in a few it is lighter. ^[7] · Credit: Tomislav Todorović / Flags of the World · Flags of the World
• A white flag with a large blue Star of David and rainbow borders, red, orange and yellow above and green, blue and purple below. Todorović notes that, unlike the flag of Israel, it has no white stripes at the top and bottom edges and its star is much larger. It was carried at the San Francisco Pride Parade in 2009, 2010 and 2011. It is often described as the "Israeli LGBT Flag," but its use in Israel had not been confirmed at the time of writing. ^[7] · Credit: Tomislav Todorović / Flags of the World · Flags of the World
• Marc Pasquin's rendering of 19 September 2011, made after a photograph in the Canadian Jewish News. Todorović replied that he had come across photographs of the design and doubted them, since "it is rather complicated to produce a flag with such a design" and repainting an Israeli flag in an image editor would be easier, but accepted the Canadian Jewish News photograph as verification. Pasquin noted that the coloured bands run to the top and bottom edges, unlike the flag of Israel. ^[7] · Credit: Marc Pasquin / Flags of the World · Flags of the World