Creator Of The Trans Flag Is Fleeing The US Due To LGBTQ Persecution

[Lori Dee]

Creator Of The Trans Flag Is Fleeing The US Due To LGBTQ Persecution
Link to Full Article
Erin In The Morning - s. baum
Sep 04, 2025

Monica Helms, the Navy veteran and creator of the original transgender pride flag, is fleeing the country due to anti-LGBTQ persecution.

She and her wife, Darlene Wagner, launched a GoFundMe earlier this year to facilitate their move abroad.

"We are worried there's a possibility something could happen where we end up getting arrested just for being who we are," Helms said in an interview with the Bay Area Reporter when the fundraiser first kicked off.

The couple currently lives in Georgia, which Erin in the Morning's newest risk assessment map labeled as a "high risk" area for transgender people. Helms is by no means the only transgender refugee fleeing the United States. In May, a Williams Institute poll found that nearly half of all trans adult respondents had considered moving out of state or out of the country.

Helms designed the transgender pride flag after having a conversation with the creator of the bisexual pride flag in 1999, she told the Bay Area Reporter. The pink, white, and blue flag has become a household symbol for trans people and their loved ones.

"No matter how you fly it, it's always correct, which signifies finding correctness in our own lives," Helms said.

--------------------------------

[Sephirah]

If you ever want a definition of irony... this is it.

"The land of the free, and the home of the brave." doesn't seem much of either, these days.