Transgender flag creator visits P.E.I.
“I made the flag because this was my view of being transgender.” Monica Helms
It was a full circle moment for Basil Wong-Southey to meet the creator of the transgender flag.
Monica Helms created the flag 25 years ago. The American transgender activist was in P.E.I. on April 24 as part of a Canada-wide tour for International Day of Pink Anniversaries to talk about the flag and her life, as well as to bring visibility to the community.
“Seeing sort of the elders of our community that have done so much for us – before I was even born, she was already fighting for my rights. She’s been out there, and working through so much inspires people like me and the people in my community enormously,” he said.
Helms was in Summerside the morning of April 24 addressing the trans community at Three Oaks High Schoo. Later that day, she visited the Charlottetown Library Learning Centre where she told the more than 20 attendees that when she made the flag, she didn’t know it would be widely adopted.
“I made the flag because this was my view of being transgender.
I took it everywhere, and people started liking it and asking where they could get one. I didn’t realize it was building up to even be an international (flag).
She created the transgender flag in 1999 after a conversation with her friend, Michael Page, who had previously designed the bisexual pride flag. Page told her the trans community needed a flag as well, and she agreed to work on one. Two weeks later, she said she woke up one morning with the image of the flag in her mind, and she proceeded to bring it to life.
“I took it everywhere,” she said. “People didn’t know what it was, so, I had to introduce it.”
Helms said she didn’t realize how popular the flag had gotten until 2013 when she started seeing it at Pride events across the world and seeing the colours being used. She said she has seen the flag flown everywhere.
“I’ve seen it on all seven continents, including Antarctica. I’ve seen it at the northern most habitable location on the planet, which is in Canada.”
But there is still one place Helms wants to see the flag flown – the International Space Station.
“The rainbow flag has been there, but the trans flag has not. So, I definitely want that to happen, and I figured a Canadian astronaut would probably take it out there before an American one.”
Wong-Southey, who is a board member of the P.E.I. Transgender Network which helped host the event, said the tour was important for building a national and international movement for the trans and non-binary community.
“There’s a conception that trans rights is a new movement and that we’re a recent event, but trans people have been around forever. Events like this are about celebrating that we have a community, we have a movement and that we’re not going anywhere.”