Butch Lesbian Pride Flag (2016, dorian--rutherford)
Identity Pride Flag ·
A seven-stripe cool-toned butch lesbian pride flag attributed to Tumblr user dorian--rutherford in 2016. The earliest surviving third-party publication located is SavvyRed's September 1, 2016 DeviantArt stamp, which credits dorian--rutherford and says the original color meanings were unknown. [1] Later sources grouped the blue stripes with masculinity, the purple stripes with lesbian and women-loving-women identity, and the pale center with people across gender and sexuality spectrums; those are later community readings, not a creator statement. [2] This design is distinct from the warm-toned butchspace flag published in 2017. [2]
Key facts
- Designer
- dorian--rutherford
- Created
- Earliest located surviving third-party publication
- In use
- 2016 to present
- Aspect Ratio
- 3:5
- Stripes
- 7
- Represented Identity
- lesbian
Also known as
- Butch Lesbian Pride Flag
- Butch Lesbian Flag
Status Historical
Archive categories Lesbian Pride Flags
Overview
No creator statement has been located. Radesky reports a common reading of the design's reception: "I think a lot of people understood it as a reaction to the lipstick lesbian flag because some butch folks didn't feel represented in that flag." That is an account of how it was received, not of why it was made. [2]
The design is attributed to the Tumblr account dorian--rutherford in 2016. The original post has not been recovered, so the surviving evidence establishes only that the flag existed by 1 September 2016, when SavvyRed published a 99 by 56 DeviantArt stamp of it. [1][2]
Identity & Context
- Represented Identity
- lesbian
- Subcommunity
- butch lesbian
Creators
The Creator
dorian--rutherford
Attributed designer
A pseudonymous Tumblr account credited with this design by SavvyRed in September 2016 and by Caroline Radesky in later reporting. [1][2] The account and its original post are gone, and no personal name, location or biography has been located. The handle is recorded as the account wrote it, with two hyphens, and is not normalised into a personal name.
Attribution notes
dorian--rutherford is a pseudonymous Tumblr account, written here with both hyphens as the sources give it. SavvyRed's September 2016 stamp states "The flag was created by dorian--rutherford.tumblr.com/". [1] Historian Caroline Radesky repeats the attribution and adds that "both the original post and dorian--rutherford's blog appear to have been deleted". [2] No exact original publication date, physical location, portrait or biography has been located.
Origin
- Digital Origin
- Yes
Digital origin; no verified physical location.
Digital origin. The sources attribute the design to a Tumblr account; the earliest located surviving publication is on DeviantArt. Neither identifies a physical location, and none is recorded here. [1][2]
Dates & Chronology
- Year Created
- Earliest located surviving third-party publication
- Period in Use
- 2016 to present
The design continues to circulate in flag guides and community use. Radesky writes that it "continues to be used by many butch and non-femme lesbians as a symbol of representation". [2] No formal adoption has been located, and it is not recorded here as canonical.
Three butch lesbian designs are distinct and are often confused. This 2016 cool-toned flag is attributed to dorian--rutherford. A second, warm-toned butch flag followed in 2017 from Jim, a moderator of the Tumblr page butchspace, using reds, oranges and browns with per-colour meanings the creator published. [2] A further 2021 design by Smashedpear is unrelated to either. Pride-Flags separately published its own five-stripe "Butch Lesbian" design on 22 April 2021. [3]
Lineage
- Indirect influences
- Reaction against pink lesbian flag dominance, Labrys Lesbian Flag, Pink Lesbian Flag
No formal ancestry is recorded, because no source documents a visual derivation for this design. The 2017 butchspace flag by Jim is a parallel later butch design rather than a revision of this one, and it is the warm-colour design associated with the orange and pink lesbian lineage. [2] The pink and lipstick lesbian flags are contextual contrasts only: Radesky reports that many people understood the butch flag as a reaction to the lipstick lesbian flag, which is an account of reception rather than of design descent. [2]
Colors & Symbolism
SavvyRed, publishing the earliest located copy, wrote "I am unaware of the original meaning of the colors". [1] Later sources read the design by colour group rather than by individual stripe. [2]
| Colour | Hex | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Dark blue | #324070 | Masculinity, in the later grouped reading of the three blues. [2] |
| Mid blue | #6A7AA4 | Masculinity, in the later grouped reading of the three blues. [2] |
| Grey-blue | #8A92A9 | Masculinity, in the later grouped reading of the three blues. [2] |
| Off-white center | #EDECEB | People across the gender and sexuality spectrums, in the later reading. Secondary prose commonly calls this stripe white; the file measures #EDECEB. [2][4] |
| Pale purple | #C0B4DB | Lesbians and women loving women, in the later grouped reading of the three purples. [2] |
| Violet | #764EC5 | Lesbians and women loving women, in the later grouped reading of the three purples. [2] |
| Deep purple | #51048A | Lesbians and women loving women, in the later grouped reading of the three purples. [2] |
Measured from the 5000 by 3000 Wikimedia Commons rendition of 2021. These are measurements of that later file, not a creator-issued specification. [4]
The meanings above are grouped, not per shade, because that is how the sources give them: Radesky writes that the flag "uses purples (representing lesbians or women loving women), blues (representing masculinity), and white (representing people across the gender and sexuality spectrums)". [2] No creator statement of meaning has been located, and SavvyRed said so plainly in 2016, offering a guess rather than a source: "I am unaware of the original meaning of the colors, but I would guess that blue might represent masculinity and white would represent gender." [1]
Seven values measured from the 5000 by 3000 Wikimedia Commons rendition uploaded in July 2021. These hexadecimal values are exact measurements of that later file and document it rather than any creator-issued specification; no file by dorian--rutherford has been located. [4] The centre stripe measures #EDECEB, an off-white, although secondary prose commonly describes it as white. [2]
Design
- Aspect Ratio
- 3:5
- Orientation
- horizontal
- Stripe Count
- 7
- Layout
- horizontal_stripes
- Stripes (Top → Bottom)
- Dark blue, Mid blue, Grey-blue, Off-white center, Pale purple, Violet, Deep purple
Seven equal horizontal stripes, three blues over an off-white centre over three purples. The 2021 Commons rendition measures 5000 by 3000 pixels with stripe heights of 429, 426, 433, 424, 433, 426 and 429, which is raster rounding rather than an unequal-stripe specification. [4]
Seven equal horizontal stripes. No emblem or charge. [4]
Seven equal horizontal stripes running dark blue, mid blue, grey-blue, off-white, pale purple, violet and deep purple. The three blues and the three purples are read as groups rather than individually. [4][2]
Usage & Adoption
- Online Usage
- DeviantArt, where the earliest located copy was published in 2016 [1], Wikimedia Commons, through the 2021 rendition [4], Flag guides and community circulation [2]
- Current Status
- historical design, still circulating
The design continues to circulate in flag guides and community use; Radesky writes that it is still used by many butch and non-femme lesbians as a symbol of representation. No formal organizational adoption has been located. [2]
Image Archive
Earliest Located Publication
Later Rendition
Archive Reconstruction
Discourse & Debates
Common misidentifications
- Three separate butch lesbian designs circulate and are frequently conflated: this 2016 cool-toned flag attributed to dorian--rutherford, the 2017 warm-toned butchspace flag by Jim, and an unrelated 2021 design by Smashedpear. [2]
SavvyRed's 2016 stamp defines the term it illustrates: "A butch lesbian is slang for a masculine woman who is attracted to other women. Sometimes it includes other women who are interested in women but not lesbians. It is also a word that can be derogatory and used to insult a queer woman for not being feminine enough." [1]
Footnotes & Citations
Sources and footnotes 4 sources
- 1. Image file page Butch Lesbian Pride Flag Stamp. SavvyRed. DeviantArt (2016-09-01). Accessed 2026-08-16 · Archived version
The earliest located surviving publication, 99 by 56 pixels. Credits dorian--rutherford and states that the original colour meanings were unknown.
- 2. News The lesbian pride flag has a long and complex history. with commentary by Caroline Radesky, PhD. Yahoo Life. Accessed 2026-08-16
Repeats the dorian--rutherford attribution, gives the grouped colour reading, reports that the original post and blog appear deleted, and distinguishes the 2017 butchspace flag.
- 3. Image file page Butch Lesbian. Pride-Flags. DeviantArt (2021-04-22). Accessed 2026-08-16
A separate five-stripe butch lesbian design published by the Pride-Flags archive in 2021, cited only to distinguish it from this record.
- 4. Image file page File:Bandera butch.png. Uploaded by Pradejoniensis; author field names Dorian-rutherford. Wikimedia Commons (2021-07-16). Accessed 2026-08-16 · Archived version
A 5000 by 3000 rendition, measured for this entry. Released as the uploader's own work under CC BY-SA 4.0 while naming Dorian-rutherford as author and sexualdiversity.org as source.
Image Sources
- Rendering
- seven-stripe design attributed to dorian--rutherford
- Encycloflaggia reconstruction of the seven-stripe butch lesbian flag · Credit: Design attributed to dorian--rutherford; reconstruction by Encycloflaggia · Encycloflaggia · reconstructionRights Archive-produced reconstruction; colours measured from the 2021 Commons rendition
- SavvyRed's 99 by 56 DeviantArt stamp of 1 September 2016 · Credit: Stamp by SavvyRed; design attributed to dorian--rutherford · DeviantArt · verifiedRights No licence asserted on the deviation page
- The earliest located surviving publication: SavvyRed's 99 by 56 pixel DeviantArt stamp of 1 September 2016, which credits dorian--rutherford and states that the original colour meanings were unknown. [1] · Credit: Stamp by SavvyRed; design attributed to dorian--rutherford · DeviantArt · No licence asserted on the deviation page
- The 5000 by 3000 Wikimedia Commons rendition uploaded in July 2021, the file this entry's colours are measured from. Its information template names Dorian-rutherford as author and sexualdiversity.org as source while the upload is released as the uploader's own work. [4] · Credit: Uploaded by Pradejoniensis; author field names Dorian-rutherford · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0 as declared by the uploader; see the rights note
- The archive's reconstruction, drawn at 800 by 480 with seven equal stripes using the colours measured from the 2021 Commons rendition. [4] · Credit: Design attributed to dorian--rutherford; reconstruction by Encycloflaggia · Encycloflaggia reconstruction · Archive-produced reconstruction, subject to the rights status of the underlying design