Flags

Rainbow Flag
Bear Pride Flag
Leather Pride Flag

Rainbow Flag
The rainbow flag has become one of the most widely used and recognized symbols of the gay pride movement.
The Rainbow Flag as we know it today was developed by San Francisco artist Gilbert Baker in 1978.
Color has always played an important power in the gay right movement . Baker explained that his colors each stood for a different aspect of gay and lesbian life:
Hot pinkfor sexuality, Red for life, Orange for healing, Yellow for the sun, Green for nature, Blue for art, Indigo for harmony, Violet for spirit.
The rainbow flag endorses gay rights without making a statement about the person- it's an all-purpose symbol which can be used by anyone regardless of their own sexual orientation

Bear Pride Flag
"Bear" is an affectionate term used for a gay man with an abundance of body hair, especially on his face and chest. Bears also tend to be a bit older and chubbier, but this is a convenient stereotype. The Bear Pride Flag symbolizes this group. It was developed by a Seattle bear bar named Spags. The blue stripes represents the sky and the green stripe represent the earth. In between these two are all the bears of the world- white for polar bears, black for black bears, and brown for brown bears. The yellow paw print is the sun, representing the spirit. While this is the most widely seen bear symbol, it is not really official. Bear groups tend to develop their own individual flags and symbols to represent them.

Leather Pride Flag
The Leather Pride Flag was created by artist Tony DeBlase and was first displayed on May 28, 1989 at the Chicago Mr. Leather contest. It stands as a symbol for the leather community- people who are into leather, sado-masochism, bondage, domination, uniforms, rubber and other kind of sexual fetishes. This flag is most often found in the gay community, but it encompasses all orientations

Symbols
Red AIDS Awareness Ribbon
The lambda
Male, Female, and Heterosexual
Gay and Lesbian
Bisexual

Red AIDS Awareness Ribbon
The Red Ribbon Project was created by singer/songwriter Paul Jabara and the New York-based Visual AIDS group in 1991. Visual AIDS is a charity group of art professionals aimed at recognizing and honoring friends and colleagues who are dying or have died of AIDS. Visual AIDS not only encourages art organizations, galleries, museums, and other AIDS organizations to commemorate those who have died of AIDS, but also to educate the public about the transmission of AIDS and HIV and the needs of those living with AIDS. It's raises funds for research and treatment of AIDS.
However, the Red Ribbon Project is still going strong and remains a driving force behind AIDS awareness. It is the Project's sincerest hope that one day it will no longer be needed. Red Ribbon Net

The lambda
One symbol which continues to remain popular is the lower case Greek letter lambda
Now what the symbol means or meant when it was introduced are a prime topic for speculation and a morass of public rumoring. Some of the more popular rumors are:
Simply, the Greek letter "L" stands for "liberation."
The Greek Spartans believed that the lambda represented unity.
The Romans took it as meaning "the light of knowledge shining into the darkness of ignorance."
The charged energy of the gay movement. This stems from the lambda's use in chemistry and physics to denote energy in equations.
…
Whatever the lambda meant or means today, it's everywhere. Even though at one time it acquired a strictly male connotation, it is used by both gays and lesbians today. Back in December of 1974, the lambda was officially declared the international symbol for gay and lesbian rights by the International Gay Rights Congress in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Male, Female, and Heterosexual

Gay and Lesbian

Bisexual