Manchester's Crosswalk Signals Go Queer for Pride

The English city now has 34 blinking lights celebrating diversity in sexuality and gender.

Tracy E. Gilchrist

Tracy E. Gilchrist is the VP of Editorial and Special Projects at equalpride. A media veteran, she writes about the intersections of LGBTQ+ equality and pop culture. Previously, she was the editor-in-chief of The Advocate and the first feminism editor for the 55-year-old brand. In 2017, she launched the company's first podcast, The Advocates. She is an experienced broadcast interviewer, panel moderator, and public speaker who has delivered her talk, "Pandora's Box to Pose: Game-changing Visibility in Film and TV," at universities throughout the country.

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Tracy E. Gilchrist

August 21 2018 2:46 PM EST

May 31 2023 8:17 PM EST

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In honor of Pride, the city of Manchester, England, replaced the standard stick-figure crosswalk signal with four different designs of blinking lights to represent a spectrum of LGBTQ identities.

The designs include interlocking women's symbols, interlocking men's symbols, an interlocking men's and women's symbol, and a transgender symbol.

\u201cThanks to our partners @PRIDESiemens we've transformed some traffic lights for @ManchesterPride. \u2642\ufe0f\u2642\ufe0f \u2640\ufe0f\u2640\ufe0f\n \nHave you spotted them near Piccadilly?\u201d
— Transport for Greater Manchester \ud83d\udeb2\ud83d\udeb6\ud83c\udffe\u200d\u2640\ufe0f (@Transport for Greater Manchester \ud83d\udeb2\ud83d\udeb6\ud83c\udffe\u200d\u2640\ufe0f) 1534788907

Inspired by a similar set of traffic signals that was produced for London Pride in 2016 and Bournemouth Pride this year, these unique signals were manufactured by Siemens Mobility Limited's Intelligent Traffic Systems in the U.K. Thirty-four of these lights were installed in Manchester.

"As the charity which campaigns for LGBT+ equality all year round in Greater Manchester, we work hard to engage organizations to provide greater visibility. These diversity images on traffic lights do this is a fun and engaging way," Mark Fletcher, chief executive of Manchester Pride, told the Manchester Evening News.

"We are proud to have worked so closely with Manchester Pride and TGfM [Transport for Greater Manchester] on this initiative, and to show our support for the festival in a fun and engaging way by installing these LGBT+ signal designs," Siemens' CEO Juergen Maier told the Manchester Evening News.

"Diversity and inclusivity is very important to Siemens, and this is a great example of a simple idea of supporting Pride and getting all people in Manchester to engage in a conversation about LGBT+ inclusion," Maier added.