Gay Men's Pride Flag (Seven-Stripe, 2019, gayflagblog)
Gay Men's Pride Flag ·
A seven-stripe flag published by the Tumblr blog gayflagblog on 10 July 2019, running green, teal, light green, white, light blue, purple and indigo. It went up in the same post as the five-stripe version, which is this flag with the teal and the purple removed, and every stripe carries a meaning the designer published with it.
Key facts
- Designer
- gayflagblog
- Created
- First published
- In use
- 2019–present
- Aspect Ratio
- 3:5 · standard
- Ratio Notes
- The designer's own files are 5:3, at 1280 by 768 and 640 by 384. [1] The Commons vector is drawn on a 35 by 21 viewBox and served at 1200 by 720, the same proportion. [2] The archive renders it at the standard 3:5.
- Stripes
- 7
- Represented Identity
- gay men
Also known as
- Gay Men Seven-Stripe Flag
- Ocean Gay Flag (informal)
- Vincian Pride Flag (applied usage)
Status Proposed
Archive categories Sexual & Romantic Orientation Pride Flags
Overview
To publish a gay men's flag whose stripe meanings were stated with the design rather than borrowed, and whose trans, nonbinary and gender-nonconforming inclusion was written into those meanings.
gayflagblog published two versions of the flag on Tumblr on 10 July 2019, one of seven stripes and one of five, in a post that names the complaints they were written to answer: "no meaning behind the stripes, seemed to be 'lipstick lesbian but blue for boys instead of pink for girls'". The earlier design's creator approved the proposal, and the post says so, adding that the two are "two separate people working on our own blogs". [1][3]
The seven stripes carry the full set of meanings, and the five-stripe reduction keeps five of them. Green, teal and light green stand for Nature, because "love between men is often seen as 'unnatural' in the eyes of society and in religion" and because "gay men have historically used green flowers and plants (Carnations, hyacinths, etc.) to symbolize our love". The white stripe is taken from the Transgender Pride Flag "because trans, nb, and GNC men are often erased or talked over and need explicit representation". The purple and the indigo together stand for "diversity in presentation, relationships, & life experience", and the run from light blue into deep purple answers a criticism the designer quotes: "oh blue for boy? bleh". [1]
Identity & Context
- Represented Identity
- gay men
The designer states the scope himself: "This flag is inclusive of all gay men. This includes Aro, Questioning/Unsure, NB, Ace, & Gay men that are Gender Non Conforming". [1] Asked in the FAQ whether aro and ace gay men can use it, he answers "Yes, they've always been welcome to." [4]
Creators
The Creator
gayflagblog
Designer
gayflagblog is a Tumblr blog run by a trans, gay, disabled man, in his own words: "I am a trans gay disabled guy". [1] No legal name is documented and no photograph or self-portrait has been located.
He published this flag and its five-stripe reduction together on 10 July 2019, as a proposal answering complaints about the earlier gay men's flag: "no meaning behind the stripes, seemed to be 'lipstick lesbian but blue for boys instead of pink for girls'". [1] He uses the post date rather than a creation date, and says why: "July 10th, 2019 was when I first published it. It was in my drafts for longer but I no longer have the phone it was made on, so I just use the post date." [4]
The earlier flag's creator approved the proposal, and the post says so: "THESE FLAGS AND STRIPE/COLOR MEANINGS ARE 'APPROVED' BY THE CREATOR OF THE ORIGINAL FLAG, meaning they don't mind that I've made this proposal to address the issues with theirs. We're two separate people working on our own blogs". [1] Mod Hermy confirmed it from the other side in March 2021, calling these designs "a better version made by @gayflagblog to deal with the problems with my proposal/suggestion". [5]
Many people are unhappy with the current popular proposed flag because of a variety of reasons (no meaning behind the stripes, seemed to be "lipstick lesbian but blue for boys instead of pink for girls", etc.) so I decided to make a similar proposal to address some of these issues.
Opening the proposal post, 10 July 2019
The green (Community) and teal (Joy) in the flag represent Nature. I thought this was important because love between men is often seen as "unnatural" in the eyes of society and in religion. Furthermore, gay men have historically used green flowers and plants (Carnations, hyacinths, etc.) to symbolize our love, reinforcing our connection with Nature.
On the green run
The white stripe is adopted from the Trans Pride flag because trans, nb, and GNC men are often erased or talked over and need explicit representation.
On the centre stripe
The purple (Fortitude) and indigo (Diversity) in the flag represent diversity in presentation, relationships, & life experience.
On the two stripes the five-stripe version drops
All of my flags are free to use for commercial and personal use, just please at least try to credit or link back/source to this post so it's meanings don't get lost.
The reuse terms, stated with the reason for them
Motivations
- To answer specific complaints about the earlier gay men's flag by publishing a design whose stripe meanings were stated with it
Stated inspirations
- Gilbert Baker's original rainbow flag, named as a source for the stripe meanings and explicitly not something the new flag is meant to replace[1]
- The Transgender Pride Flag, from which the white stripe is taken[1]
Origin
- Digital Origin
- Tumblr (gayflagblog)
Digital origin; no verified physical location.
Published on the designer's own Tumblr blog. [1] No offline launch is documented.
Dates & Chronology
- Year Created
- Exact date
- First published
- Period in Use
- 2019–present
Of the two versions published that day, the five-stripe is the one that travelled; this flag is the one the meanings belong to, and the one guides reproduce when they list seven. A vector copy has been on Wikimedia Commons since 2021, uploaded by a third party and marked public domain, its author field crediting the designer. [2]
The designer has claimed no status for it. The post presents it as a proposal, he says the flag has no formal name, and no institution has adopted it: "It doesn't have an official name, but many people are fond of calling it the 'Ocean Gay flag' which I am fine with." [4] A trans-exclusionary subreddit, r/LGBDropTheT, criticised the proposal for including trans men and nonbinary gay men; the subreddit was later removed by Reddit and its posts survive only as screenshots. [6]
The stripe-meaning graphic has been revised. An earlier version read "GNC & Trans Men" on the white stripe, wording the designer changed and explained: "because people don't know how to not be cruel to others & because black on darker purple is hard on some people's eyes". The Pride-Flags posting of this flag preserves the earlier wording. [1][7] The proposal post itself carries an edit date of 9 May 2022.
The flag is often called the vincian flag, after a term offered as a masculine counterpart to "sapphic". The designer treats the label as adopted rather than assigned: "It's been adopted by many people who use the term Vincian (referring to Leonardo da Vinci) but you are free to use it under any other similar terms." [4]
Lineage
- Indirect influences
- Gay Men's Pride Flag (Seven-Stripe, 2016, Anonymous and Mod Hermy), Rainbow Pride Flag, Transgender Pride Flag
- Direct children
- Gay Men's Pride Flag (Five-Stripe, 2019, gayflagblog)
This is the parent of the five-stripe version, not a variant of it. Both went up in the same post on 10 July 2019, and the five-stripe is this flag with the teal #26CEAA and the purple #5049CC removed, keeping the first, third, fourth, fifth and seventh stripes. [1][2]
The 2016 seven-stripe flag by Anonymous and Mod Hermy is the historical precursor, not the design parent. This proposal was written to answer complaints about that one and its creator approved it, but the two share a single stripe value, the light blue #7BADE2, which sits in the same position in both. [1][5]
The white stripe is taken from the Transgender Pride Flag, which the designer states outright. [1] Gilbert Baker's rainbow flag is named as a source for the stripe meanings and explicitly not as something this flag replaces. [1]
Lineage tree
Every record reachable from this one through documented parent and child relationships: 4 records across 3 generations.
- This record
- Gay Men's Pride Flag (Seven-Stripe, 2019, gayflagblog)
- Generation 3
- Gay Mspec Gay Ally Flag, Gay Turigirl Ally Flag
Colors & Symbolism
Seven stripes, each with a meaning the designer published alongside the flag. The three greens stand for Community, Healing and Joy and together for Nature; the white stripe is trans, nonbinary and gender-nonconforming men, its white taken from the Transgender Pride Flag; light blue is Pure love, and purple and indigo are Fortitude and Diversity. [1][7]
| Colour | Hex | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Green | #078D70 | Community. With the teal and light green it stands for Nature, against the framing of love between men as unnatural. [1][7] |
| Teal | #26CEAA | Healing. [7][3] |
| Light green | #98E8C1 | Joy. With the greens it stands for Nature, and for the green flowers gay men have used to signal their love. [1][7] |
| White | #FFFFFF | Trans, nonbinary and gender-nonconforming men, "often erased or talked over and need explicit representation". The stripe is taken from the Transgender Pride Flag. [1] |
| Light blue | #7BADE2 | Pure love. [7][3] |
| Purple | #5049CC | Fortitude. With the indigo it stands for "diversity in presentation, relationships, & life experience". [1][7] |
| Indigo | #3D1A78 | Diversity in presentation, relationships and life experience. [1][7] |
Read from the Wikimedia Commons vector whose author field credits the designer, and matched against his own posted files. [1][2]
This flag has no official digital palette. Color values shown are approximate.
The meanings were published with the flag rather than assigned to it afterwards, which was one of the complaints the proposal answered. [1]
The proposal post names Community, Joy, Fortitude and Diversity in prose. The full seven-name sequence, Community, Healing, Joy, GNC and trans men, Pure love, Fortitude, Diversity, is listed on the Pride-Flags posting of this flag and reported the same way in the reference literature. [7][3]
The designer published no hex specification. The values above are read from the SVG on Wikimedia Commons whose author field credits gayflagblog and whose EXIF original date is the day of publication, 10 July 2019. [2]
Two of the seven differ by one unit from the designer's own posted files, which sample to #078E70 on the green and #5049CB on the purple against the Commons vector's #078D70 and #5049CC. [1][2] The differences are invisible at any size; this entry publishes the circulating values and records the measurements.
Design
- Aspect Ratio
- 3:5 · standard
- Ratio Notes
- The designer's own files are 5:3, at 1280 by 768 and 640 by 384. [1] The Commons vector is drawn on a 35 by 21 viewBox and served at 1200 by 720, the same proportion. [2] The archive renders it at the standard 3:5.
- Orientation
- horizontal
- Stripe Count
- 7
- Layout
- horizontal_stripes
- Stripes (Top → Bottom)
- Green, Teal, Light green, White, Light blue, Purple, Indigo
Each stripe is a seventh of the height. The Commons vector is drawn on a 35 by 21 viewBox, three units per stripe. [2]
Seven equal horizontal stripes running green, teal, light green, white, light blue, purple and indigo, with no emblem. Removing the teal and the purple gives the five-stripe version published in the same post. The greens stand for Nature, the white is taken from the Transgender Pride Flag, and the light blue runs on into a deep indigo rather than stopping at the blue that gay men's flags are usually reduced to. [1]
Usage & Adoption
- Online Usage
- Pride-flag guides and social platforms, generally where a seven-stripe version is listed
- Current Status
- active
Less reproduced than the five-stripe version published alongside it. Reproduction is not adoption: no institution has enacted either, and the designer presents both as proposals. [1][3][4]
Image Archive
The flag
The flags it is built from
What came of it
Discourse & Debates
- Whether the seven-stripe or the five-stripe is the version to use. The designer published both and treats neither as superseding the other; the variants page groups them together rather than separating them by stripe count. [1][4]
- Whether "vincian" should be the standard label for men-loving-men identity. The designer neither coined nor claimed it: "you are free to use it under any other similar terms". [4]
Common misidentifications
- Confused with the five-stripe version published in the same post, which is this flag minus the teal and the purple. [1]
- Confused with the 2016 seven-stripe flag by Anonymous and Mod Hermy, which has the same stripe count and a different palette; the two share one value out of seven. [5]
- Credited with meanings drawn from the wrong version. Fortitude belongs to this flag's purple stripe, which the five-stripe does not carry. [7][3]
Criticisms
- A trans-exclusionary subreddit, r/LGBDropTheT, criticised the proposal for including trans men and nonbinary gay men, under a header complaining that it was not centred on them. The subreddit was removed by Reddit for violating its terms of service and the posts survive only as screenshots preserved by a community archive. [6]
- Some hold that a separate gay men's flag is unnecessary, on the reasoning that the rainbow flag already stands for gay men. The designer addressed the premise in the proposal itself, naming Baker's flag as a source for his meanings and saying the new flag "is not meant to replace or erase it in any way". [1][3]
The designer states that the flag has no formal name. "Ocean gay flag" he endorses; "vincian", from Leonardo da Vinci, he treats as adopted usage rather than the flag's name. [4] He explains why he labels it a gay man flag at all: "it's mostly because it's very hard to find the flag in search engines or on websites if it's just labelled as 'gay' (many people use gay as an umbrella term) and I wanted to make it more accessible." [4]
Footnotes & Citations
Sources and footnotes 7 sources
- 1. Social media Gay Man Flag. gayflagblog. gayflagblog (Tumblr) (2019-07-10). Accessed 2026-08-14
The proposal post: both versions of the flag, the complaints they answer, the earlier creator's approval, a meaning for every stripe, the reuse terms, and an edit date of 9 May 2022.
- 2. Image file page New Gay Pride Flag. Wikimedia Commons. Accessed 2026-08-14
The seven-stripe design on Commons: 1200 by 720 on a 35 by 21 viewBox, its author field crediting gayflagblog and its EXIF original date the day of publication. Uploaded by a third party and marked public domain by that uploader. The source for the seven published values.
- 3. Encyclopedias & Reference Gay men's flags. Wikipedia. Accessed 2026-08-14
Records the same-day release of the seven-stripe and five-stripe versions and reports the seven stripe meanings in order, including pure love for the light blue.
- 4. Social media gayflagblog FAQ. gayflagblog. gayflagblog (Tumblr). Accessed 2026-08-14 · Archived version
The designer's standing answers: why the 10 July 2019 date is used, that the flag has no formal name, how he regards "ocean gay flag" and "vincian", and why he labels it a gay man flag.
- 5. Social media Clearing up some things about the "official" gay man pride flag. Mod Hermy / ask-pride-color-schemes. ask-pride-color-schemes (Tumblr) (2021-03-05). Accessed 2026-08-14
The earlier flag's creator on this one, calling it "a better version made by @gayflagblog to deal with the problems with my proposal/suggestion".
- 6. Community A compiled history of the first popularized Gay / Gay Man / Gay Men / Gay Male flag proposal. archivalflags. archivalflags (Tumblr) (2020-05-25). Accessed 2026-08-14
A footnoted community history of the flag family, updated 12 April 2022, transcribing its sources and stating that it is free to be cited. The source for the r/LGBDropTheT screenshots and for that subreddit's removal by Reddit.
- 7. Designer page Gay Man (1). Pride-Flags. DeviantArt (2020-05-13). Accessed 2026-08-14
This flag reposted to the Pride-Flags gallery at 5000 by 3000, with all seven stripe meanings listed in order and the earlier "GNC & Trans Men" wording on the white stripe. Carries a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 licence applied by that account.
Image Sources
- Rendering
- seven-stripe version
- Redrawn at the seven values carried by the Commons vector and matched against the designer's own files. [1][2] · Credit: Design: gayflagblog. Rendering: Encycloflaggia. · Encycloflaggia rendering · SVG at 3:5Rights The designer grants free commercial and personal use of his flags and asks for credit or a link back, so that the meanings travel with the image. [1] The Commons vector of the same design is separately marked public domain by its uploader, and the Pride-Flags posting of it on DeviantArt carries a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 licence applied by that account. [2][7] This rendering is the archive's own redraw.
- The Transgender Pride Flag. The designer states that this flag's white stripe is taken from it, "because trans, nb, and GNC men are often erased or talked over and need explicit representation". [1] · Credit: Monica Helms · Encycloflaggia
- The 2016 flag by Anonymous and Mod Hermy, the design this proposal was written to answer. Its creator approved the proposal and later called this version the better one. The two flags share a single stripe value, the light blue #7BADE2. [1][5] · Credit: Anonymous and Mod Hermy · Encycloflaggia
- The flag as published on 10 July 2019, redrawn at 3:5. The seven values are the Commons vector's, matched against the designer's own posted files. [1][2] · Credit: Design: gayflagblog. Rendering: Encycloflaggia. · Encycloflaggia rendering
- The five-stripe version, published in the same post on the same day. It is this flag with the teal and the purple removed, and it is the one that travelled. [1] · Credit: gayflagblog · Encycloflaggia