Cork to be first to host original Pride flag soon

Cork is to become the first city to host the original Pride flag as it begins a world tour from its home in San Francisco.

Cork and San Francisco have been sister cities since 1984.

The flag, designed by gay rights activist Gilbert Baker in 1978, is currently housed in the GLBT Historical Society in San Francisco’s Castro district.

The suggestion was originally made by Cllr John Maher on a visit by Cork City councillors to San Francisco in 2024.

“I made the comment a bit flippantly to be honest when we met the curator of the museum the flag is held in. He had said that they were thinking of sending the flag on tour, and I just said ‘make sure Cork is first’,” he said.

Cllr Maher said the news is brilliant for Cork, and is important in highlighting the history of the struggle for LGBT rights in Ireland.

“It can be easy sometimes to forget the history because things are a lot better now than they were in the past. There are a lot of brave people who aren’t around to see this or how far we’ve come,” he said.

He said he was delighted by the work put in by staff of Cork City Council in making the visit a reality.

“It really shows how many allies we have in the council, not just among other councillors but also in the executive,” he said.

It is expected that the flag will be displayed in the Cork Public Museum in autumn 2026.

Orla Egan, Curator of the Cork LGBT Archive collection said it will be exciting to have the flag in Cork.

She said the archive will be launching a permanent LGBT exhibition in the museum in 2026, which the flag will be displayed beside.

“While the flag will be there briefly, there will be a permanent LGBT exhibition in the museum on an ongoing basis,” she said.

This article was produced with the support of the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme funded by Coimisiún na Meán.