Straight ally flag

Black and white stripes with a rainbow A: a straight person's way of saying they stand with LGBTQ+ people.

What the colours mean

Black and white stripes Straight people.
The rainbow LGBTQ+ people as a whole.
The A shape Ally, or advocate.

Where it comes from

The straight ally flag appeared in the late 2000s. Its creator is not reliably documented. University LGBTQ+ centres describe it consistently: black and white stripes for straight people, and a rainbow shaped like the letter A for allies.

Not a straight pride flag

The black and white stripes on their own are sometimes flown as a straight pride flag, including at counter-events to Pride. The ally flag is a different thing: the rainbow A is the point. The orange and black "super straight" flag is different again, and GLAAD has listed it as a symbol of online hate.

Being an ally

A flag says where someone stands; allyship is what they do next. Some versions of the flag add the colours of the transgender flag to the A, for allies who want to be explicit about trans people.

Questions people ask

What does the straight ally flag mean?

The black and white stripes stand for straight people and the rainbow A for allies of LGBTQ+ people.

Is the straight ally flag the same as the straight pride flag?

No. The straight pride flag is black and white stripes alone. The ally flag adds a rainbow A, which is what makes it a sign of support.

Can straight people fly the rainbow flag?

Yes, flying it in support is common and usually welcome. The ally flag is simply a way to say explicitly that you are an ally rather than a member of the community.

In the glossary

Allyship Cisgender Cishet

Other pride flags

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.Queer flagNine stripes, from black to black, for everyone who uses queer as their word.Transgender flagLight blue, pink and white, in a pattern that reads the same whichever way up you fly it.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.Genderqueer flagLavender, white and green: androgyny, agender identities and genders outside the binary.