Aromantic Pride Flag (Yellow Center, 2014)
Identity Pride Flag ·
Cameron Whimsy published this five-stripe aromantic flag on Tumblr on 7 February 2014, after reading community discussion about the inclusiveness of an earlier design [1]. Its dark green, light green, yellow, gray and black bands each stood for one identity at first, and were regrouped into three broader bands that August [2][3]. A white-centre alternative followed hours later, after an anonymous correspondent objected that the palette took the colours of Jamaica's flag [4]. Both versions were still being described as current in aromantic community discussion through 2015 [5].
Key facts
- Designer
- Cameron Whimsy
- Created
- First documented public use
- In use
- First published 7 February 2014
- Aspect Ratio
- 3:2 · apparent
- Ratio Notes
- Measured from Cameron's own files. All four surviving renderings of this design, the three in the February post and the one later substituted into it, are 360 by 240 pixels, divided into five equal bands of 48 pixels. No construction ratio was published with the design, and none has been located. The archive drawing is redrawn at 720 by 480 to hold the measured proportion. [2][1][3]
- Stripes
- 5
- Represented Identity
- Aromantic people, who experience little or no romantic attraction.
Status Historical Proposed
Archive categories Sexual & Romantic Orientation Pride Flags
Overview
Cameron Whimsy published this five-stripe design on Tumblr on 7 February 2014, as one option among several then being argued over, after reading criticism that an existing aromantic flag was not inclusive. The aim was a flag covering "grey, demi, lith and wtfromantics as well as the spectrum", and one "a lot easier on the eyes" than the design then at aromantic.org. The green and yellow scheme came from the community rather than from the designer: "credit to like half the aro community for the green and yellow colour scheme that it seems to have adopted". [1][2]
The post carried three renderings in different shades, and Cameron preferred the first, describing the third as "basically just the same thing with a brighter yellow" [2]. On 21 August 2014 the stripe meanings were regrouped into three bands, the colours unchanged [3]. Hours later an anonymous correspondent objected that the palette took the colours of Jamaica's flag, and Cameron replied by proposing a white centre stripe [4]. A dedicated post explaining that version followed on 16 November [6]. Both versions were still being discussed as current designs in 2015 [5].
Identity & Context
- Represented Identity
- Aromantic people, who experience little or no romantic attraction.
- Subcommunity
- aromantic community
Creators
The Creator
Cameron Whimsy
primary designer
Tumblr user who designed both this yellow-centre aromantic flag and the white-centre revision that followed it in 2014. Cameron's account of the February design credits the green and yellow scheme to the wider aromantic community rather than to their own work. [1] The @cameronwhimsy blog description, read on 14 August 2026, gives "whimsy / cameron | they/them/their | nonbinary | arospec nblesbian | malaysian-australian". That is a current self-description and is not evidence of where the flag was made in 2014. [7]
credit to like half the aro community for the green and yellow colour scheme that it seems to have adopted
On the origin of the palette, in the post introducing the design, 7 February 2014. [1][2]
i didn't really put symbolism into the position of the stripes when designing it because i didn't want any single identity to be seen as more important than the others
Answering a correspondent who suggested swapping the meanings of the two green bands, three days after publication. [2]
damnwell that's definitely a problem; thanks for letting me know
Replying to the anonymous correspondent who objected that the palette took the colours of Jamaica's flag, 21 August 2014. [4]
Motivations
- Criticism that an existing aromantic flag was not inclusive, and that the design then at aromantic.org was hard to look at. [1]
Attribution notes
Designed and published by Cameron Whimsy (@cameronwhimsy) on Tumblr on 7 February 2014 [1]. Cameron revised the stripe meanings on 21 August 2014 without changing the colours [3], showed a white-centre alternative later the same day in reply to an anonymous correspondent [4], and published a dedicated post for that version on 16 November 2014 [6]. No cited 2014 source records where the design was physically made.
Origin
- Digital Origin
- Yes
- Origin Type
- online publication
- Physical Origin Status
- not established
Published online. No physical place of creation is established, so no land context is attributed.
First published online through Cameron Whimsy's Tumblr, @cameronwhimsy, on 7 February 2014 [1]. The cited 2014 sources establish the platform and the date. Where the design was physically made is not established by any of them.
Dates & Chronology
- Year Created
- Exact date
- First public use
- Period in Use
- First published 7 February 2014; revised through August to November 2014; documented in circulation through at least September 2015, with no documented end date
On 7 February 2014 the design was published on Tumblr as a proposal, in a post carrying three renderings and a labelled key to the stripe meanings. The post drew 708 notes. Correspondents replied the same week with suggestions, one asking to reverse the two green meanings and another saying "I like the middle version best, but I don't think the exact color tones matter too much". [1][2]
On 21 August 2014 Cameron republished the stripe meanings, grouping the five stripes into three bands instead of assigning one identity to each, because "of all the new words and orientations aro-spectrum people are exploring, stripes designated for certain orientations don't really work in the long run". The colours did not change. [3]
Later the same day an anonymous correspondent objected to the palette as "appropriating the colours of the Jamaican flag". Cameron accepted the objection and, in the same reply, showed a version with the yellow stripe replaced by white. [4]
On 16 November 2014 Cameron made a dedicated post for the white-centre version, opening "whoops yeah i just realised i never actually made a proper post for this version of the flag with meanings and stuff" and reusing the August wording. The post links back to the earlier ones with the aside "warning huge icky yellow stripe in the first two". [6]
Both designs were still circulating the following year. On 4 July 2015 an AVEN member described the most popular aromantic flag as "the 5-stripe flag that is either dark green/light green/yellow/gray/black, or dark green/light green/white/gray/black". Members were still stating a preference for the yellow-centre version on 5, 6 and 10 September. The same thread records that no aromantic flag was official: one member asked when "we'll get an official aromantic flag", another wrote "I have no idea if there is an official official flag". [5]
Major revisions
Stripe meanings regrouped into three bands: the two greens together for the aromantic spectrum, yellow for platonic and aesthetic attraction, gray and black together for the sexuality spectrum. The colours were unchanged. [3]
A white-centre alternative was shown for the first time, in Cameron's reply to an anonymous correspondent who objected that the palette took the colours of Jamaica's flag. Cameron noted it would make the scheme "kinda similar to the neutrois flag" and that "keeping the 5 stripe format is the best idea". Tumblr renders post dates in the blog's own timezone, so this post is dated 22 August on cameronwhimsy.tumblr.com and by later chronologies; its recorded stamp is 21 August 2014, 19:08 UTC. [4][8]
Cameron published a dedicated post for the white-centre version, carrying the meanings in full. That version became the dominant one, though the yellow-centre design remained in documented circulation. The original February post was later edited to read "for reasons of colour sensitivity, cultural appropriation etc. the more accepted flag is now my redesign with the white stripe". [6][1]
The design Cameron was answering is a four-stripe aromantic flag in green, yellow, orange and black, its stripes standing for aromanticism, friendship, the spectrum between romance and aromanticism, and alloromantic people; its origin is not known [9]. By 2015 an AVEN member called it "one of the first proposed aromantic flags" and said it had "fallen out of favor" [5]. A later chronology dates it to about 2011 and credits a small group at the National Coalition for Aromantic Visibility, citing the account of the Tumblr user lithromantic [8].
The February post no longer reads as it did in 2014. It now shows two images where the surviving reblog preserves three, its first image has been substituted, the sentence describing the third has gone, and the original clause saying the design was "structured similarly to the other pride flags to show we're part of the GSRM/LGBTPQIA community too" has been removed. The reblog of 10 February 2014 is the source for the post as first published. [1][2]
Lineage
- Direct children
- Aromantic Pride Flag
The documented sequence runs from a four-stripe green, yellow, orange and black aromantic flag, through this design, to Cameron's white-centre revision. Cameron's February post answers criticism of the earlier flag directly [1], and the white-centre flag is this design with one stripe changed, by the same designer [4][6]. The earlier flag is not yet catalogued here, so the sequence is carried in words rather than as a link.
Other aromantic-spectrum flags share this palette and its community without deriving from this design. Shared green, a shared spectrum or a neighbouring identity is not descent, and no such claim is made here.
Lineage tree
Every record reachable from this one through documented parent and child relationships: 4 records across 3 generations.
- This record
- Aromantic Pride Flag (Yellow Center, 2014)
- Children
- Aromantic Pride Flag
Colors & Symbolism
The stripes carried two different sets of meanings in 2014. As first published in February each band stood for one identity: dark green aromantic, light green the aro spectrum, yellow lithromantic, gray grey-aro and demiromantic, black wtfromantic. The labelled key in the original post gives them in those words. [2][8]
On 21 August 2014 Cameron regrouped them into three bands, because "stripes designated for certain orientations don't really work in the long run": the two greens together for "the aro-spectrum (and aromanticism itself represented by green because green belongs to us now hell yeah)", the yellow as "basically the 'platonic' stripe", and gray and black together as "the sexuality spectrum, acknowledging aro-aces, aromantic allosexuals, and everything in between because we are a diverse lot". The colours did not change. [3]
| Colour | Hex | Meaning | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dark green | #339933 | August 2014: the aromantic spectrum, a meaning shared with the light green band below. February 2014: aromantic people. [3][2] | Measured from the first rendering in the February 2014 post, the one Cameron said they preferred. [2] |
| Light green | #99CC33 | August 2014: the aromantic spectrum, a meaning shared with the dark green band above. February 2014: the aro spectrum, as distinct from aromanticism itself. [3][2] | Measured from the first rendering in the February 2014 post. The labelled key in the same post uses #99CC66 for this band. [2] |
| Yellow | #FFFF66 | August 2014: "basically the 'platonic' stripe", covering friendship, platonic and aesthetic attraction, queerplatonic relationships and family. February 2014: lithromantic people. [3][2] | Measured from the first rendering in the February 2014 post. The third rendering uses #FFFF00. [2] |
| Gray | #999999 | August 2014: the sexuality spectrum, a meaning shared with the black band below. February 2014: grey-aro and demiromantic people. [3][2] | Measured from the first rendering in the February 2014 post. [2] |
| Black | #000000 | August 2014: the sexuality spectrum, a meaning shared with the gray band above. February 2014: wtfromantic people. [3][2] | Measured from the first rendering in the February 2014 post; the same in all four. [2] |
This flag has no official digital palette. Color values shown are approximate.
The August wording for the yellow stripe runs in full: "basically the 'platonic' stripe - friendship/platonic and aesthetic attraction/queerplatonic relationships/family, the importance and validity of all non-romantic relationships and feelings and non-romantic forms of love etc. etc. etc. etc." It passed unchanged to the white stripe that replaced it. [3][6]
Cameron described the February meanings as provisional from the start, writing in August that they "were never really set in stone anyway - they kept changing in my mind when people commented their thoughts" [3]. The historical term "wtfromantic" is kept here because it is the word the sources use; it is now more often written as quoiromantic. The November 2014 post for the white-centre version repeats the August wording and adds a list of the identities the greens cover, "demi, grey, lith/akoi, wtf/quoiro, cupio etc. EVERYTHING. even ones that don't have names yet"; that expansion was written about the white-centre flag. [6]
No fixed palette was ever specified. The February post showed the design in three tonal treatments, and the shades were not settled: a correspondent who noticed a difference between two of the images wrote "I like the middle version best, but I don't think the exact color tones matter too much", and Cameron answered "oh, you're referring to the light green stripe that i seem to have coloured differently by accident and didn't notice until just now". The four surviving renderings measure: first rendering #339933, #99CC33, #FFFF66, #999999, #000000; labelled key #339933, #99CC66, #FFFF66, #999999, #000000; third rendering #339933, #99CC33, #FFFF00, #999999, #000000; and the rendering later substituted into the February post and reused in August, #3DA642, #A8D379, #FFFC78, #A9A9A9, #000000. The values listed above are the first rendering's, and the archive drawing uses them. [2][1][3]
Design
- Aspect Ratio
- 3:2 · apparent
- Ratio Notes
- Measured from Cameron's own files. All four surviving renderings of this design, the three in the February post and the one later substituted into it, are 360 by 240 pixels, divided into five equal bands of 48 pixels. No construction ratio was published with the design, and none has been located. The archive drawing is redrawn at 720 by 480 to hold the measured proportion. [2][1][3]
- Orientation
- horizontal
- Stripe Count
- 5
- Layout
- horizontal stripes
- Stripes (Top → Bottom)
- dark green, light green, yellow, gray, black
Five equal horizontal stripes.
The February post carried three renderings. The first, which Cameron said they preferred, and the third, "basically just the same thing with a brighter yellow", are flag drawings; the second is a labelled key to the stripe meanings, with the words printed across the bands, and Cameron told a correspondent the words "were only meant to be there to explain the colours". A fourth rendering in different tones was later substituted for the first in the original post and used again in the August meanings post. [2][1][3]
Five equal horizontal stripes, from top to bottom: dark green, light green, yellow, gray and black. The white-centre revision that followed it keeps the same five-band arrangement with the yellow replaced.
Usage & Adoption
- First Users
- Online aromantic communities
- Online Usage
- Tumblr, AVEN forums
- Current Status
- unknown
The white-centre revision became the dominant version, but not immediately and not to the exclusion of this one. On 4 July 2015 an AVEN member described the most popular aromantic flag as "the 5-stripe flag that is either dark green/light green/yellow/gray/black, or dark green/light green/white/gray/black", naming both. Members of the same thread were still expressing a preference for the yellow-centre version through 10 September 2015. No source records when it stopped circulating. [5]
No aromantic flag was official during this period. Members of the July 2015 thread asked "when we'll get an official aromantic flag" and said "I have no idea if there is an official official flag". [5]
Image Archive
Flag design
Discourse & Debates
- Correspondents argued about the stripes within days of publication. One asked that the two green meanings be reversed so that the community rather than the identity sat at the top; Cameron agreed it "makes more sense" but explained the original arrangement: "i didn't really put symbolism into the position of the stripes when designing it because i didn't want any single identity to be seen as more important than the others". [2]
- Whether the design's meanings should attach to named orientations at all was the question Cameron settled in August, against their own February scheme: "because of all the new words and orientations aro-spectrum people are exploring, stripes designated for certain orientations don't really work in the long run". [3]
Common misidentifications
- Distinguished from the white-centre aromantic flag, which is the same five-band arrangement with the yellow stripe replaced.
Criticisms
- The palette was raised as appropriating the colours of Jamaica's flag. An anonymous correspondent wrote to Cameron on 21 August 2014: "Usually I don't do this, but I found that 'new and improved aro flag' problematic because it's appropriating the colours of the Jamaican flag. Minus the grey, those colours have a lot of symbolism to us and our culture (I think it's the only flag of its kind with those colours, so anywhere you go you know it's Jamaica). And it's just really bothering me tbh." Cameron accepted the point in reply: "damnwell that's definitely a problem; thanks for letting me know", weighed "removing one colour or the other", and settled on "switching out the yellow for white" while noting it would make the scheme "kinda similar to the neutrois flag". [4]
- The yellow stripe was reported as hard to look at. Cameron's own later edit to the February post gives "colour sensitivity, cultural appropriation etc." as the grounds for the replacement [1]. An AVEN member summarising the arguments circulating in September 2015 said people were pushing for the white version because "the one with the single yellow stripe is difficult for some people to view", adding "I am not arguing for or against these points, I am just stating what I've heard" [5].
- The same AVEN post reports a further objection then in circulation, that "the yellow stripe representing lithromanticism has also been stated to be problematic and appropriative of stone lesbians". The lithromantic meaning it refers to is the February 2014 reading of the stripe, which Cameron had already replaced a year earlier. No source has been located for who made that argument. [5]
Aromantic, often shortened to aro, describes a person who experiences little or no romantic attraction. The aromantic community grew largely out of asexual community spaces such as AVEN. "WTFromantic", the term this flag's fifth stripe originally carried, was current on the aromantic spectrum in 2014 and is now more often written as quoiromantic.
Footnotes & Citations
Sources and footnotes 9 sources
- 1. Social media i've been reading up on a lot of the discussion about the aro flag. Cameron Whimsy. Tumblr (2014-02-07). Accessed 2026-08-14
Primary source: the post introducing the design, timestamped 7 February 2014, 04:35 UTC. It has since been edited by the designer, twice in visible notes and again in its images and wording; the preserving reblog below carries the post as first published.
- 2. Social media Reblog preserving the February 2014 aro flag post and its discussion. Cameron Whimsy, with correspondents. Tumblr (2014-02-10). Accessed 2026-08-14
Preserving reblog, 10 February 2014. Carries the February post as first published, with all three renderings and the text later removed, together with the exchanges that followed it. The reblog date is not the design's publication date.
- 3. Social media over the past few months i've been reviewing my design of the aro flag. Cameron Whimsy. Tumblr (2014-08-21). Accessed 2026-08-14
Primary source: the revision of the stripe meanings, timestamped 21 August 2014, 06:40 UTC. The colours were not changed.
- 4. Social media Anonymous ask on the flag's colours and the flag of Jamaica. Cameron Whimsy, answering an anonymous correspondent. Tumblr (2014-08-21). Accessed 2026-08-14
Primary source: the objection, and the first appearance of the white-centre alternative. Timestamped 21 August 2014, 19:08 UTC; Tumblr renders post dates in the blog's own timezone, so the post displays as 22 August on cameronwhimsy.tumblr.com and is dated 22 August by later chronologies.
- 5. Community Aromantic Pride Flag?. AVEN forum members. Asexual Visibility and Education Network (2015-07-04). Accessed 2026-08-14
Contemporary community discussion, July 2015 onward, evidencing that both versions were still in circulation and that no aromantic flag was official.
- 6. Social media Whoops, yeah I just realised I never actually made.... Cameron Whimsy. Tumblr (2014-11-16). Accessed 2026-08-14
Primary source: the dedicated post for the white-centre version. Timestamped 15 November 2014, 16:14 UTC, which is 16 November in the blog's own timezone, the date under which the post is usually cited.
- 7. Designer page cameronwhimsy blog description. Cameron Whimsy. Tumblr. Accessed 2026-08-14
The designer's own current blog description, cited for their stated name and pronouns. Read 14 August 2026; it carries no date of its own and does not describe the flag.
- 8. Blogs & Personal Sources Aromanttislippu 10 vuotta. AroAceUtu. AroAceUtu (2024-08-22). Accessed 2026-08-14
Secondary chronology in Finnish, citing the Tumblr posts directly. Corroborates the February stripe meanings and the earlier four-stripe flag's origins.
- 9. Encyclopedias & Reference Aromantic flag. Wikipedia. Accessed 2026-08-14
Secondary overview, retained for general orientation only. The Tumblr posts carry the creation, meanings and chronology.
Image Sources
- Rendering
- Cameron Whimsy, February 2014, yellow centre
- Archive rendering of Cameron Whimsy's yellow-centre aromantic flag, published in February 2014. The shades are those of the first of the three renderings in that post, the one Cameron said they preferred; no fixed palette was ever specified. · Credit: Archive rendering after Cameron Whimsy · Archive rendering