Bear pride flag

Seven stripes in the colours of bears' fur, with a black paw print, for the bear community.

What the colours mean

The seven stripes The fur colours of bear species around the world, as a sign of inclusivity.
Paw print The bear community itself; no widely cited designer meaning exists.

Where it comes from

The International Bear Brotherhood flag was designed in 1995 by Craig Byrnes, with graphic designer Paul Witzkoske, and prototypes were voted on at a bear event in July 1995. Who deserves credit for the final design, and whether it was copyrighted or placed in the public domain, is described differently by different sources.

What the colours mean

The stripes represent the fur colours of bear species throughout the world, chosen as a sign of inclusivity. They are about bears' fur, not people's skin or hair.

Who it represents

The bear community is a subculture made up mainly of gay and bisexual men. Newer variants, such as trans bear and non-binary bear flags, have appeared for trans and non-binary people within it.

Not the California flag

The official flag of California is also called the Bear Flag. This page is about the pride flag, which is why it uses its full name.

Questions people ask

What do the colours of the bear flag mean?

The seven stripes stand for the fur colours of bear species around the world, as a sign of inclusivity.

Who designed the bear pride flag?

Craig Byrnes, with graphic designer Paul Witzkoske, in 1995.

Is the bear pride flag the California flag?

No. California's state flag is also called the Bear Flag, but it has nothing to do with the bear pride flag.

In the glossary

Transmasculine Coming out

Other pride flags

Polyamory flagBlue, red and dark purple with a white chevron and a gold heart, and the older flag with a pi it replaced for many.Leather pride flagBlack and blue stripes, one white stripe and a red heart: the flag of the leather, kink and BDSM community.Transgender flagLight blue, pink and white, in a pattern that reads the same whichever way up you fly it.Rainbow pride flagThe first pride flag, designed in 1978, and still the one most people mean by the pride flag.Progress Pride flagThe rainbow flag with a chevron that brings people of colour and trans people to the front.Bisexual flagPink, purple and blue, with the purple where the other two overlap.Pansexual flagPink, yellow and blue: attraction regardless of gender, with a stripe for people outside the binary.Asexual flagBlack, grey, white and purple, chosen by the asexual community itself in 2010.Demisexual flagThe asexual flag's colours, rearranged around a black chevron.Aromantic flagFive stripes from green to black, with green chosen as the opposite of romance's reds and pinks.Genderfluid flagFive stripes for a gender that moves: femininity, the absence of gender, the mix, all genders and masculinity.Agender flagSeven symmetrical stripes, with black and white for the absence of gender and green for non-binary genders.