There is no single lesbian flag, and that is not an oversight. There have been at least five serious attempts since 1999, two are compromised by their origins, and the one most people fly today was designed in 2018 by someone who then handed it to the community rather than keeping it.
The labrys flag, 1999
A violet background, a black triangle, and a double-headed axe. It was designed by Sean Campbell, a graphic designer, for a Pride publication.
Every element is a reclaimed wound. The black triangle was the badge the Nazis pinned on women deemed asocial, a category that swept up lesbians. The labrys was carried by mythological Amazons and adopted by lesbian feminists in the 1970s. Violet points to Sappho, who wrote of violet crowns.
It is still flown, mostly by older lesbians and by those with a feminist-separatist lineage. It has also been picked up by trans-exclusionary groups, which is not what it was made for and is one reason younger people rarely use it.
The lipstick flag, 2010, and why it is unusable
Seven shades of pink and red with a lipstick mark in the corner. It circulated widely for most of the 2010s and you will still find it on merchandise.
It has two problems. The first is in the design: by naming itself after a femme presentation it excluded butch lesbians from a flag meant to cover everyone. The second is decisive. Its creator, Natalie McCray, was found to have written posts that were racist, biphobic and transphobic, and the community dropped the flag when that surfaced.
The version without the lipstick mark carries the same problem. People sometimes fly the seven-stripe pink flag believing that removing the kiss removes the history. It does not, and this is worth knowing before you buy one.
The orange-pink flag, 2018, and the one flown today
In 2018 a Tumblr user posting as Emily Gwen designed a seven-stripe flag running from dark orange through white to dark rose. The stated meanings run: gender non-conformity, independence, community, unique relationships to womanhood, serenity and peace, love and sex, and femininity.
It went through a five-stripe simplification almost immediately, which is the version most flags are printed in, and that five-stripe form is what you now see at Pride and in profile pictures.
The important detail is what its designer did next. Emily Gwen released it to the community without claiming ownership, which is precisely what the lipstick flag's history made necessary. A symbol that belongs to one person can be taken down by that person's conduct.
It was designed to include trans lesbians and it does. The orange stripes for gender non-conformity are there on purpose, and no reading of this flag leaves trans women outside it.
Which one should you use?
The orange-pink flag, in its five-stripe form, is the current answer and the safe one. It is inclusive by design, it has no compromised author, and it is what people will recognise.
The labrys flag is not forbidden, and plenty of lesbians fly it with full knowledge of its history and no separatist intent. Just be aware of who else uses it and of what a stranger may read into it.
The lipstick flag is the one to leave alone. See transbian for the word many trans lesbians use for themselves, and the glossary for the rest of the vocabulary.
Wren · Editor
Wren is the name the T4TSpace blog is published under. The posts are written by the small team that builds the app, and signed with one name so the voice stays the same from one piece to the next.