A New Flag Already? Woke London Mayor Sadiq Khan Unveils New LGBTQ+ Flag for ‘IDAHOBIT’

LONDON, ENGLAND - JANUARY 18: The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, joins guests for RISE, the
Getty Images/Sadiq Khan, Twitter
Kurt Zindulka

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has apparently unveiled a new version of the LGBTQ+ pride flag for International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia (IDAHOBIT) this week.

Taking to Twitter, the leftist London Mayor wrote on Tuesday: “Today on #IDAHOBIT, I want to make clear that homophobia, biphobia and transphobia have no place in our city and send a message of solidarity to all LGBTQ+ communities around the world. We have to make sure that the progress of the past decades isn’t reversed.”

The post from Khan was accompanied with what appears to be an updated version of the “Progress Pride” flag, which was crafted in 2018 by “non-binary” artist Daniel Quasar, who added chevrons featuring the  baby blue and pink colours of the transgender flag as well as black and brown for queer people of colour to the traditional rainbow flag.

The flag featured in the London Mayor’s post featured another chevron on its right side, including Quasar’s colours as well as an additional hot pink line, which has been used by other flags to represent women.

Responding to the apparent update to the flag, anti-woke campaigner Dr James Lindsay wrote: “The ugliest flag already evolved again?”

Another social media user noted that with the addition of the chevrons on both sides of the rainbow flag, the LGB has been “surrounded by TQ”.

It is currently unclear where Khan sourced the apparently new flag from. A guide to LGBT flags produced by the French-British women’s magazine Marie Claire just last month failed to feature the updated Progress Pride flag used by the London mayor.

Despite not featuring the Khan’s flag, the guide detailed other obscure flags, such as the “Two-Spirit Pride Flag”, the “Pony Flag”, the “Rubber Pride Flag” and the “Bear Brotherhood Flag”.

Meanwhile, Britain’s Royal Mint has also joined the action for IDAHOBIT, announcing this week the creation of a new LGBT+ themed 50 pence coin to mark the 50th anniversary of the first Pride celebrations in the UK.

The coin, which features the traditional rainbow flag, as well as the transgender and black and brown colours of the Progress Pride flag, was designed by the London-based LGBT+ activist Dominque Holmes.

The coin also has the words “Equality”, “Pride”, “Protest”, “Visibility”, and “Unity” engraved into it.

The Royal Mint — a supposedly politically neutral institution — said that in concert with the release of the coin, it would contribute £40,000 to London’s LGBT Community Pride organisation. While the coin will not be put into circulation, it will be available for purchase on the Royal Mint’s website this summer.

Commenting on the joint project, Asad Shaykh of Pride in London said: “It was a privilege to visit The Royal Mint as part of our partnership and see our coin being made.

“It humbles me greatly that the words that I coined for the brand will be on an actual coin, opposite the Queen.

“This queer brown immigrant has come a long way, powered by hope, love and this city. Nowhere in the world had this been possible, except the UK. Pride in London feels very proud today.”

Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka

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