{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2026}} {{pp-semi-indef|small=yes}} {{Short description|Symbols for lesbian community}} [[File:CSD Berlin 2022 - Lucas Werkmeister - 22 - Lesbian Pride.jpg|thumb|Lesbians wearing the Pink flag (left) and Orange-Pink flag (right) at Berlin Pride 2022]] {{LGBT symbols}} <!--WP:NPOV – Maintain a neutral point of view. WP:UNDUE – Content must represent all significant published viewpoints.--><!--Wikipedia is not for things made up one day WP:MADEUP. All content must be supported with reliable sources WP:RS.--><!--Self-published sources WP:SPS and user-generated content WP:UGC such as social media, blogs, and wikis are not usable sources for statements of fact or establishing notability. An article subject's social media posts may be used for uncontroversial statements about themself.--> '''Lesbian flags''' are pride flags used to symbolise the lesbian community. Since the design of the labrys lesbian flag in 1999, many designs have been proposed and used, including the controversial lipstick lesbian flag. A five-stripe variant of the 2018 Orange-Pink lesbian flag is most widely used by the community today.
==History== ===Labrys flag (1999)=== The Labrys lesbian flag consists of a labrys (a double-headed axe) superimposed on an inverted black triangle, set against a violet background. It was designed in 1999 by graphic designer Sean Campbell, and published in June 2000 in the Palm Springs edition of the ''Gay and Lesbian Times'' Pride issue.<ref name="Bendix">{{cite web|last1=Bendix |first1=Trish |title=Why don't lesbians have a pride flag of our own? |url=https://www.afterellen.com/people/452039-dont-lesbians-pride-flag |website=AfterEllen |date=8 September 2015 |accessdate=8 June 2019 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150909150736/https://www.afterellen.com/people/452039-dont-lesbians-pride-flag |archivedate=9 September 2015}}</ref><ref name="Brabaw">{{Cite web|last1=Brabaw |first1=Kasandra |url=https://www.refinery29.com/en-ca/lgbt-pride-flags-meaning |title=A Complete Guide To All The LGBTQ+ Flags & What They Mean |website=Refinery29 |date=20 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210312065228/https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/lgbt-pride-flags-meaning |archive-date=12 March 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref>
The lesbian feminist movement adopted the labrys as a symbol in the 1970s, due to its association with the Amazons of Greek mythology.<ref name="Alyson_p99">{{cite book |title=The Alyson Almanac: A Treasury of Information for the Gay and Lesbian Community |publisher=Alyson Publications |year=1989 |isbn=0-932870-19-8 |location=Boston, Massachusetts |pages=[https://archive.org/details/alysonalmanactr00bost/page/99 99–100] |chapter=Gay Symbols Through the Ages}}</ref><ref name="Murphy_p44">{{cite book |title=Reader's Guide to Lesbian and Gay Studies |date=2000 |publisher=Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers |isbn=1-57958-142-0 |editor-last1=Murphy |editor-first1=Timothy F. |edition=1st |location=Chicago, Illinois |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=FeWMAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA44 44]}}</ref><ref name="Zimmerman-symbols">{{cite book|editor1-last=Zimmerman |editor1-first=Bonnie |editor1-link=Bonnie Zimmerman |title=Lesbian Histories and Cultures: An Encyclopedia |date=2000 |edition=1st |volume=1 (Encyclopedia of Lesbian and Gay Histories and Cultures) |publisher=Garland Publishing |isbn=0-8153-1920-7 |page=748 |chapter=Symbols (by Christy Stevens) |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofle00bzim/page/748 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofle00bzim/page/748}}</ref> The black triangle was used in Nazi concentration camps as a badge of shame to mark "asocials" (including Roma and Sinti people, disabled people, and gay women).<ref name="Encyclopedia">{{cite web |title=Lesbians Under the Nazi Regime |url=https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/lesbians-under-the-nazi-regime |website=Holocaust Encyclopedia |publisher=United States Holocaust Memorial Museum |date=31 March 2021 |access-date=14 June 2021 |archive-date=25 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220325155611/https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/lesbians-under-the-nazi-regime |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Elman">{{Cite news|last1=Elman|first1=R. Amy|title=Triangles and Tribulations: The Politics of Nazi Symbols|url=http://remember.org/educate/elman|website=Remember.org|access-date=10 December 2016|archive-date=20 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220110705/http://remember.org/educate/elman|url-status=live}} (Originally published in the ''Journal of Homosexuality'', 1996, 30 (3): pp.1–11, {{doi|10.1300/J082v30n03_01}}, {{ISSN|0091-8369}})</ref> Some lesbians reappropriated the symbol, similarly to the pink triangle.<ref name="Elman" /> The color violet is associated with lesbians via the poetry of Sappho.<ref name="Prager">{{cite web|last1=Prager|first1=Sarah|title=Four Flowering Plants That Have Been Decidedly Queered (Sapphic Violets)|url=https://daily.jstor.org/four-flowering-plants-decidedly-queered/|website=JSTOR Daily|date=29 January 2020|accessdate=19 July 2020|archive-date=3 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210203190720/https://daily.jstor.org/four-flowering-plants-decidedly-queered/|url-status=live}}</ref>
As early as 2009, lesbians were also using a variant of the rainbow flag, with a dark blue canton containing the interlocking female symbol {{char|⚢}}.<ref name="Double-Venus">{{cite web |title=More Variations of the Gay Pride Rainbow Flag (2): Rainbow flags with double Venus symbol |url=https://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/qq-rb_v2.html#2venus |website=Flags of the World |date=21 September 2023 |access-date=25 June 2024 |archive-date=25 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240625090826/https://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/qq-rb_v2.html#2venus |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Zimmerman-symbols" />
<gallery> File:Labrys Lesbian Flag.svg|Labrys lesbian flag created in 1999<ref name="Bendix" /> File:Lesbian Pride double-Venus canton rainbow flag.svg|Lesbian pride variant of the rainbow flag with the double-Venus symbol<ref name="Double-Venus" /><ref name="Zimmerman-symbols" /> </gallery>
===Lipstick flag and Pink flag (2010)=== {{See also|Lipstick lesbian#Flag controversy}}The lipstick lesbian flag consists of seven horizontal stripes in a gradient from dark magenta (top) to white (center) to red (bottom), with a red kiss mark superimposed in the top left corner.<ref name="kissflag2">{{cite web|last1=McCray|first1=Natalie|title=LLFlag|url=https://thislesbianlife.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/llflag1.jpg|website=This Lesbian Life|date=July 2010|accessdate=9 June 2021|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20161011120237/https://thislesbianlife.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/llflag1.jpg|archivedate=11 October 2016}}</ref><ref name="Rawles2">{{cite news|last1=Rawles|first1=Timothy|title=The many flags of the LGBT community|url=https://sdgln.com/social/2019/07/12/many-flags-lgbt-community|work=San Diego Gay & Lesbian News|date=12 July 2019|accessdate=3 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190712231000/https://sdgln.com/social/2019/07/12/many-flags-lgbt-community|archive-date=12 July 2019|url-status=dead}}</ref> It was designed in 2010 by lesbian blogger Natalie McCray, and symbolizes lipstick lesbians—slang for highly feminine lesbians.<ref name="Mathers2">{{cite web |last1=Mathers|first1=Charlie|title=18 Pride flags you might not have seen before|url=https://www.gaystarnews.com/article/pride-flag-community/|website=Gay Star News|date=1 January 2018|accessdate=4 June 2019|archive-date=1 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210601020941/https://www.gaystarnews.com/article/pride-flag-community/|url-status=dead}} (The Mathers article shows the derivative design, but not the original flag.)</ref><ref name="Horniman">{{cite web |last1=Redwood|first1=Soleil|date=26 February 2020|title=A Horniman Lesbian Flag|url=https://www.horniman.ac.uk/story/a-horniman-lesbian-flag/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230816211624/https://www.horniman.ac.uk/story/a-horniman-lesbian-flag/|archive-date=16 August 2023|access-date=21 November 2021|website=Horniman Museum}}</ref> The flag has not been widely adopted<ref name="Bendix" /> due to some lesbians complaining that it is not inclusive of butch lesbians, while others have argued that McCray wrote biphobic, racist, and transphobic comments on her now-defunct blog.<ref name="Brabaw" />
The Lipstick flag was quickly supplanted by a variant with the same seven colors, but with the kiss mark removed. This version, called the "pink lesbian flag" attracted more use as a general pride flag for lesbians.<ref name="Rawles2" /><ref name="Andersson">{{Cite news|last1=Andersson|first1=Jasmine|title=Pride flag guide: what the different flags look like, and what they all mean|url=https://inews.co.uk/news/pride-flag-guide-what-the-different-flags-look-like-and-what-they-all-mean-309916?srsltid=AfmBOopwWCM5nZgwVg9IgdUyEB2wZo4_7TQ2CQF1-6MVj1_V1ELtwG3f|work=i|date=4 July 2019|access-date=20 February 2026}}</ref>
<gallery> File:Lipstick lesbian Pride Flag.svg|Illustration of Lipstick lesbian flag created in 2010.<ref name="Horniman" /> (This is not the original design: the kiss graphic has been modified.) File:Lesbian Pride pink flag.svg|Pink lesbian flag, derived from the lipstick lesbian flag. (Design modifier is uncredited.)<ref name="Andersson" /> </gallery>
=== Butch flags (2016 and 2017) === In 2016, Tumblr user Dorian Rutherford designed a butch lesbian pride flag consisting of a seven-stripe gradient from blue to white to purple.<ref name="Women's Health">{{cite magazine|last1=Siclait |first1=Aryelle |last2=Mejia |first2=Naydeline |title=What Is The Lesbian Pride Flag? The Flag's Nuanced And Ever-Evolving History And Meaning, Explained |url=https://www.womenshealthmag.com/life/a36523338/lesbian-pride-flag-meaning/ |magazine=Women's Health |date=May 29, 2024 |access-date=2 March 2026}}</ref> University of Iowa historian Caroline Radesky considers this a reaction to the perception of the pink flag as primarily representing femme lesbians to the exclusion of butches, replacing its "feminine" colors with "masculine" cool tones, to represent butch and non-femme lesbians.<ref name="Villarreal">{{Cite web |last=Villarreal |first=Daniel |title=Emblems of equality: Discovering the world of LGBTQ+ Pride flags |url=https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2023/06/emblems-of-equality-discovering-the-world-of-lgbtq-flags/ |access-date=2026-03-02 |website=LGBTQ Nation |language=en}}</ref>
A second butch lesbian pride flag, attributed to a moderator named "Jim", was published in 2017 in Tumblr blog ''butchspace'', this one containing red, orange, white, yellow, and brown stripes. According to its creator, the seven stripes (from top to bottom) represent (1) passion and sexuality, (2) courage, (3) joy, (4) renewal, (5) chivalry, (6) warmth, (7) honesty.<ref name="butchspace">{{cite web|author=butchspace |title=A new butch flag |url=https://butchspace.tumblr.com/post/162316889795/a-new-butch-flag |website=Tumblr |access-date=5 March 2026 |date=June 27, 2017}}</ref><ref name="Villarreal" />
<gallery> File:Bandera butch.png|Butch flag published in 2016 by Tumblr user ''dorian-rutherford''. File:Butch Flag.png|Butch flag published in 2017 on Tumblr blog ''butchspace.'' </gallery>
===Orange-Pink flag (2018)=== The orange-pink lesbian flag<ref name="Honestly-my-ideal">{{Cite web|author=Emily (sadlesbeandisaster) |title=Honestly my ideal lesbian pride flag would be the pink one and the orange one flowing into each other [...] |url=https://sadlesbeandisaster.tumblr.com/post/174514713156/honestly-my-ideal-lesbian-pride-flag-would-be-the |website=Tumblr |date=3 June 2018}}</ref> (sometimes called the "Sunset" flag) combines the three magenta-pink stripes from the top of the pink flag, with the three red-orange stripes from the lesbian butch flag.<ref name="butchspace" /> Though an otherwise identical, inverted flag was created by Tumblr blogger "shapeshifter-of-constellation" in 2017,<ref name="shapeshifter">{{cite web|title=shapeshifter-of-constellation |url=https://shapeshifter-of-constellation.tumblr.com/post/162570229392/butchspace-i-loooooove-your-orange-butch-flag |website=Tumblr |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180929084718/https://shapeshifter-of-constellation.tumblr.com/post/162570229392/butchspace-i-loooooove-your-orange-butch-flag |archive-date=September 29, 2018 |date=July 3, 2017 |access-date=March 1, 2026}}</ref> the orange-pink flag was attributed to Tumblr blogger Emily Gwen in 2018,<ref name="Honestly-my-ideal" /><!--Sources widely recognize Emily Gwen as the flag's creator. Social media users have disputed this, pointing to an earlier 2017 Tumblr post by shapeshifter-of-constellation containing a similar design with the colors reversed. WP:V requires reliable published sources (not social media) in order to verify contentious claims like this in Wikivoice.--> and was popularized by a Tumblr poll seeking an official flag for the lesbian community.<ref name="official-lesbian">{{Cite web|author=official-lesbian-flag|title=the search for the official lesbian flag|url=https://official-lesbian-flag.tumblr.com/post/176505133364/official-lesbian-flag-been-doing-some-research|website=Tumblr|date=31 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190509231929/https://official-lesbian-flag.tumblr.com/post/176505133364/official-lesbian-flag-been-doing-some-research|archive-date=9 May 2019|access-date=2025-06-13|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Dastagir-USA2">{{cite news|last1=Dastagir|first1=Alia E.|last2=Oliver|first2=David|title=LGBTQ Pride flags go beyond the classic rainbow. Here's what each one means|work=USA Today|url=https://eu.usatoday.com/in-depth/graphics/2021/06/01/lgbtq-pride-flags-meaning-gay-lesbian-transgender-nonbinary-intersex-pride-flags-represent/5133381001/|date=1 June 2021|access-date=1 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210601103213/https://eu.usatoday.com/in-depth/graphics/2021/06/01/lgbtq-pride-flags-meaning-gay-lesbian-transgender-nonbinary-intersex-pride-flags-represent/5133381001/|archive-date=1 June 2021|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="DominionU">{{cite web |title=LGBTQIA+ Symbols: New Lesbian Flag(s)|url=https://www.odu.edu/life/diversity/resources/lgbtqa/symbols |website=Old Dominion University |date=April 2020 |access-date=6 June 2021 |archive-date=2 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210602011519/https://www.odu.edu/life/diversity/resources/lgbtqa/symbols |url-status=dead}}</ref> According to Gwen, the flag's seven colors symbolize: (1) red-orange: gender non-conformity, (2) orange: independence, (3) light orange: community, (4) white: unique relationships to womanhood, (5) pink: serenity and peace, (6) dusty pink: love and sex, (7) dark rose: femininity.<ref name="sadlesbeandisaster">{{Cite web|author=Emily (sadlesbeandisaster) |title=can people please acknowledge THIS version of the meanings and not the other one because I keep getting messages about the other one… |url=https://sadlesbeandisaster.tumblr.com/post/174618152601/can-people-please-acknowledge-this-version-of-the |website=Tumblr |date=6 June 2018 |access-date=June 13, 2025}}</ref><ref name="DominionU" />
Tumblr user "taqwomen" soon derived a five-striped variant of this flag, omitting the second and sixth stripes.<ref name="official-lesbian" /><ref name="DominionU" /><ref name="BBC_flags">{{cite AV media|last1=Murphy-Kasp |first1=Paul |date=5 July 2019 |title=Pride in London: What do all the flags mean? |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-england-london-48885240/pride-in-london-what-do-all-the-flags-mean |type=Video |language=English |location=London, England |publisher=BBC News |access-date=6 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200617211013/https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-england-london-48885240/pride-in-london-what-do-all-the-flags-mean |archive-date=17 June 2020 |url-status=live}}</ref> As of 2026, this version of the Orange-Pink flag is the most commonly used lesbian flag to represent the community.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Vargas |first=Alani |title=What Does the Lesbian Flag Look Like? Here's Why You Might See So Many Variations of It |url=https://parade.com/living/lesbian-flag |access-date=2025-06-13 |website=Parade |date=30 May 2025}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Flags of the LGBTIQ Community |url=https://outrightinternational.org/insights/flags-lgbtiq-community |access-date=2025-06-13 |website=OutRight Action International |date=3 October 2022}}</ref>
<gallery> File:Lesbian pride flag 2018.svg|Orange-pink lesbian flag derived from the pink flag in 2018<ref name="DominionU" /> File:Orange and Pink Lesbian flag.svg|Five-stripes variant of orange-pink flag<ref name="BBC_flags" /> </gallery>
==Gallery== ===Flags at events=== <!--Please restrict amount of images to 3 photos of one flag design.--> <gallery> File:Flag Waving (5896295483).jpg|Double-Venus rainbow flag at London Pride parade, England, 2011 File:Istanbul Pride Solidarity Demo Berlin 2018 59.jpg|Double-Venus rainbow flag at Istanbul Pride solidarity demonstration, Berlin, Germany, 2018 File:Dyke March Berlin 2019 329.jpg|Labrys flag at Berlin Dyke March, Germany, 2019 File:Marche des fiertés rouen 20190504 - drapeau lesbien.jpg|Labrys flag at Pride March, Rouen, France, 2019 File:Pride Serbia 2019 - Academic (Student) Park.jpg|Labrys flag at Pride Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia, 2019 File:Dyke March Berlin 2020 035.jpg|Double-Venus rainbow flag at Berlin Dyke March, Germany, 2020 </gallery>
==See also== * LGBTQ symbols
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Lesbian feminism}} {{LGBTQ|culture}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Flags introduced in 1999 Category:Flags introduced in 2010 Category:Flags introduced in 2016 Category:Flags introduced in 2018 Category:Lesbian culture Category:LGBTQ flags Category:LGBTQ-related controversies in art Category:Sexuality flags