Dark brown, orange/rust, golden yellow, tan, white, grey, and black are some of the colors included on the flag – along with a bear paw print. This flag with the Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, and Violet horizontal stripes remains a popular symbol of LGBTQA+ Pride. The flag’s colors are intended to represent the colors of animal bear furs from throughout the world, not necessarily human skin and hair color tones. In 1979, the two colors of Hot Pink and Turquoise were dropped, thus creating the well-recognized 6-stripe Pride Flag. His undergraduate degree in psychology involved devising a senior project about the bear culture that had raged since the early 1980s, of which he had first-hand experience – and this flag results from this project. The International Bear Brotherhood Flag was created to represent the Brotherhood of Bears and was designed by Craig Byrnes in 1995.
Secondary sex attributes such as the growth of body hair and facial hair (which are typically considered “bear” characteristics) are celebrated in gay bear culture. In gay culture, a bear is a larger and often hairier man who projects an image of rugged masculinity.
