A-Spec Pride Flag

Overview

To provide a unifying flag for the entire asexual and aromantic spectrum community, encompassing asexual, aromantic, demisexual, demiromantic, graysexual, and related identities. ^[1]

The-moon-is-aroace posted the flag on Tumblr on March 25, 2019, under the title “A new flag for the aspec community.” The post opened “Just an idea I had for an aspec flag” and explained: “I haven’t really seen a flag that has been widely adopted for the greater aspec community as a whole, and I thought to throw my own hat into the ring because why not.” ^[1] The design departs from stripes deliberately: “I thought of moving away from stripes as a different approach for a pride flag, seeing as most, if not all, were composed of stripes in one way or another.” The palette was kept to the existing a-spec colours on the same reasoning: “I thought it was best to stick to the black/grey/white/green/purple as I think it would be counter-intuitive to introduce another color scheme. After all, this is a flag that is supposed to communicate to others that it includes all ace and aro people, so changing it up would just be more confusing.” ^[1] The ask-pride-color-schemes blog reblogged the post on May 4, 2019. ^[2] The LGBTQIA+ Wiki gives the same date, March 25th, 2019. ^[3]

Identity & Context

Represented Identity

asexual and aromantic spectrums

Subcommunity

ace and aro spectrum umbrella

Creators

The Creator

Attribution notes

The creator wrote: 'A new flag for the aspec community. Just an idea I had for an aspec flag.' They noted they hadn't 'really seen a flag that has been widely adopted for the greater aspec community as a whole.' ^[1]

Origin

Specific Place

Tumblr (the-moon-is-aroace)

Place Type

blog

Digital Origin

Yes

Digital origin; no verified physical location.

Published on Tumblr by the-moon-is-aroace on 25 March 2019, and later reblogged by the ask-pride-color-schemes archive on 4 May 2019. No physical place of creation is documented.

Dates & Chronology

Year Created

2019

First located publication

March 25, 2019

Period in Use

2019-present

Creation Bounds

the-moon-is-aroace published the flag on Tumblr on 25 March 2019 under the title “A new flag for the aspec community”. That is the creator's own publication and the date the design is known to have existed by; when it was drawn is not documented. The ask-pride-color-schemes reblog of 4 May 2019 is a later republication by a different account and is not a creation date. No physical use is documented.

The original Tumblr post by the-moon-is-aroace ^[1][2] Multiple alternative A-Spec flag designs have been created, including the Aloe Vera A-Spec Flag (November 17, 2019, by sapphic-squirrel and hetaces), a 2022 alternative by untitled-google-docs-document, and a 2024 alternative by Drachenauge. None has displaced the others. ^[2][3]

Earlier anattractional spectrum flags were created in January 2018 by Mod Loki and Mod Hermy, predating this compass rose design. The field of a-spec flags remains fragmented, with no single design achieving universal adoption. ^[3]

Lineage

Indirect influences

Aromantic Pride Flag, Asexual Pride Flag

Related flags

Aceflux Pride Flag, Aegosexual / Autochorissexual Pride Flag (2014, hunterinabrowncoat), Apothisexual Pride Flag (2015, pride-color-schemes), Aroace Pride Flag, Aroflux Accessible Flag (2020), Aroflux Pride Flag

+ 12 more

Aroflux Flag (Starri-Niqht, 2021), Aromantic Pride Flag (Yellow Center, 2014), Cupiosexual Pride Flag (documented 2015; attribution unresolved), Demiromantic Pride Flag, Demisexual Pride Flag, Frayromantic Five-Stripe Pride Flag, Fraysexual and Frayromantic Pride Flag (2014, pridearchive), Grayromantic Pride Flag (2014), Lithromantic / Akoiromantic Pride Flag (2014), Quoiromantic Pride Flag (2015, Cor / epochryphal), Recipromantic Pride Flag, Reciprosexual Pride Flag

The green and purple quadrants reference the established color vocabularies of the aromantic and asexual flags, respectively. The compass rose is an original design element. Multiple competing A-Spec flag designs exist.

Colors & Symbolism

The creator described the compass rose as “a symbol of how we all experience attraction in different ways”, adding that it “isn’t really symbolic of any specific plane or planes of attraction”, and said it belonged at the centre because “I think it would be central to a flag that represents an entire spectrum of identities to have something that symbolizes such an idea.” Green and purple sit on opposite sides of the quadrant “to show that asexuality and aromanticism are their own separate and independent identities, with both the black and grey quadrants connecting them”. ^[1]

Measured from the creator's 1992 by 1192 pixel file; the four fields each fill about 22.7% of the image. ^[1]

This flag has no official digital palette. Color values shown are approximate.

White compass rose

Symbolizes how people experience attraction in different ways. The creator noted that the compass rose is not symbolic of any specific plane or planes of attraction. ^[1][4]

All symbol meanings come from the original creator's Tumblr post. Green and purple are deliberately placed on opposite sides to emphasize the independence of aromantic and asexual identities. The black and grey quadrants link these two identities together. ^[1]

Values measured from the creator-published file, not issued by the-moon-is-aroace, who published no hexadecimal specification. The four quadrants each fill about 22.7% of the image and the compass rose about 7.8%, the remainder being edge antialiasing.

Design

Aspect Ratio

1992:1192 · source artifact

Ratio Notes

No proportion is published. The two files held are 1992 by 1192 and 1280 by 768 pixels, heights to widths of 0.598 and 0.600, both 3:5.

Orientation

other

Stripe Count

0

Layout

quartered_with_symbol

Center Symbol

White compass rose

Four equal-sized colored quadrants (quartered square) with a white compass rose overlaid at the center. Deliberately non-stripe design.

The flag consists of four equal quadrants in green, purple, black, and grey, with a white compass rose centered over the quadrant boundaries. The creator deliberately chose a non-stripe layout to distinguish it from existing pride flags. ^[1]

A quartered square with green, purple, black, and grey quadrants. A white compass rose is centered over the intersection of all four quadrants.

Usage & Adoption

Online Usage

Tumblr a-spec communities, Wikis and community flag guides

Current Status

active

The flag is one of several competing A-Spec flag designs. No single A-Spec flag has achieved universal adoption. ^[3]

Image Archive

Canonical flag

Discourse & Debates

• Multiple competing A-Spec flag designs exist (compass rose 2019, Aloe Vera 2019, 2022 alternative, 2024 alternative), and no single design has achieved universal adoption
• Later designs (2022, 2024) sought to be more inclusive of aplatonic and agender individuals, not just aro and ace

Common misidentifications

• The A-Spec flag represents the entire asexual/aromantic spectrum and should not be confused with the asexual flag or aromantic flag individually

A-Spec (or aspec) refers to the asexual and aromantic spectrums collectively. It encompasses asexual, aromantic, demisexual, demiromantic, graysexual, grayromantic, and related identities.

Footnotes & Citations

Image Sources

Rendering

compass rose standard

• The A-Spec Pride Flag as published by the-moon-is-aroace on 25 March 2019. Four colour fields, black, green, purple and grey, meeting at a white compass rose. 1992 by 1192 pixels. ^[1] · Credit: the-moon-is-aroace (Tumblr) · Uploaded canonical image
• The same design at 1280 by 768 pixels, exactly 5:3. A separate file from the 1992 by 1192 copy, not a duplicate of it. ^[1] · Credit: the-moon-is-aroace (Tumblr) · Original 2019 design