Genderfluid Pride Flag

Overview

Poole wanted a symbol for genderfluidity specifically, having found genderqueer fitting but too broad and finding no flag for the narrower identity. ^{[4] [1]}

Poole set the design out on 3 August 2012 in a submission to the genderfluidity Tumblr blog: "So I couldn't find a flag that represented gender-fluidity, so since I was working on other projects for most other gender identities and sexual orientations for my store, I figured i would make one." The post offered it for comment rather than announcing it: "I was hoping to get some opinions, and if its a good one, for it to get around. I'm trying, and its just an idea so don't judge me too hard lol." ^[1] The design was already circulating the previous evening, 2 August 2012, in a reblog whose caption credits it to thoughtstoberemembered. ^[5]

Poole described the same sequence in 2018: "I made a couple flags actually, but this one I submitted to a blog on Tumblr about genderfluidity and gender fluid people. It had a big following at the time. And they loved it. And it took off." ^[4]

Identity & Context

Represented Identity

genderfluid

Creators

The Creator

JJ Poole

Designer

JJ Poole uses they/them pronouns and is from New York State. ^[4] Their blog's About page describes them as "a Pansexual Genderqueer person" and "a trans person"; in the 2018 interview Poole said, "More specifically I am agender." ^{[6] [4]} They were about twenty when they designed the flag. ^[4]

Asked what led them to make it, Poole said they had been "trying to find an identity that fit me. At the time I knew genderqueer fit me, but it still felt too broad. I found genderfluid to be fitting but was disappointed with the lack of symbolic representation." They added: "I wouldn't call myself an artist, but I've dabbled with drawing and bits of Photoshop, so I decided to create it myself." ^[4] The flag was one of several identity designs Poole was making that week for their webstore, Psyche Spectrum: a trigender proposal followed on 4 August 2012, and an agender design that, in Poole's words, "was late and didn't catch on. Genderfluid was really the only one that caught on." ^{[1] [6] [7] [4]}

Poole chose the shades by eye rather than to a specification, singling out the purple, and did not expect the flag to spread: "It's crazy, I've seen by just googling the flag, the designs and art are endless. even when I've been to comic conventions, I've seen it in the artist alleys making scarves and pins and all sorts of things." ^[4]

I found genderfluid to be fitting but was disappointed with the lack of symbolic representation.

On why the flag was made.

I never expected it to become popular, let alone almost officially accepted.

On the flag's adoption.

Motivations

• Difficulty finding symbolic representation for genderfluid identity distinct from broader genderqueer
• Desire for a dedicated symbol for genderfluidity and community recognition

Stated inspirations

• The existing pride flags as a group. Poole: "I think I was influenced by all of them, most flags were stripes and different colors with meanings attached, I loved the gay pride, bi, pan and genderqueer flags."^[4]
• The Genderqueer Pride Flag as the only nonbinary flag then in circulation, which Poole found fitting but too broad for genderfluidity.^[4]

Attribution notes

Poole gave the 2018 interview under the name JJ Poole, confirming it when the interviewer said the Gender Wiki carried that name, and gave they/them pronouns. ^[4] The 3 August 2012 submission is written in the first person by the person who made the flag and was, by its own note trail, submitted by lostinthoughtspaceandfantasies. ^[1] The 2 August reblog on that blog reproduces a caption crediting the design to thoughtstoberemembered, ^[5] and in the interview Poole says "I created a trigender flag," a phrase Majestic Mess links to a post carrying thoughtstoberemembered's trigender proposal. ^{[4] [7]} No located source states the relationship between the two handles.

Origin

Country

United States

Region / state

New York

Digital Origin

Yes

Digital publication on Tumblr. JJ Poole described themself as being from New York State; no physical creation site is documented. ^[4] Indigenous land context is unknown and not assignable from state-level information.

Colonial / settler context

No location-specific determination can be made without a documented creation site.

The flag is a digital design published on Tumblr. Poole gives New York State as where they are from; no physical place of creation is documented. ^[4] The earliest located circulation is a reblog of 2 August 2012 whose caption credits the design to thoughtstoberemembered, and Poole's own account was submitted to the genderfluidity blog the following day. ^{[5] [1]}

Dates & Chronology

Year Created

2012

Earliest located circulation

August 2, 2012

Period in Use

2012–present

Flags of the World recorded in October 2023 that the flag "has come into more widespread use," citing dated photographs from 2017 onward at Pride events in the United Kingdom, Poland, Denmark, Israel and the United States. ^[9] By 2022 LGBTQ Nation described it as "more or less accepted as the de facto genderfluid pride flag," while noting that "there is no single organizational body that decides which flags become official symbols for the community." ^[2] It appears in institutional guides including those of the Human Rights Campaign and the University of British Columbia, ^{[10] [11]} and Poole's 2012 submission has accumulated 418 notes. ^[1]

Earlier visual match: three photographs uploaded to Flickr during 2005 show a flag with the same apparent stripe sequence on one float at that June's Pride parade in Columbus, Ohio. ^{[12] [13] [14]} The three frames show the same float in the same parade, so they document one physical flag rather than three independent appearances, and no contemporaneous caption names or explains it. The identification as a genderfluid flag was made by Tomislav Todorović for Flags of the World on 10 June 2015, ten years after the parade. ^[9] The 2005 flag's identity, maker and relationship to Poole's later design remain unknown, and the named, attributed Genderfluid Pride Flag dates to 2012.

Sources also differ on the year of Poole's design. The Human Rights Campaign dates the flag to 2013; ^[10] the Tumblr posts are timestamped August 2012, ^{[1] [5]} and LGBTQ Nation, the University of British Columbia and the Gender Wiki give 2012. ^{[2] [11] [15]}

Lineage

Indirect influences

Bisexual Pride Flag, Genderqueer Pride Flag, Pansexual Pride Flag, Rainbow Pride Flag

Related flags

Agender Pride Flag, Genderflux Pride Flag, Trigender Pride Flag

Poole names the existing pride flags as a group rather than one predecessor: "I think I was influenced by all of them, most flags were stripes and different colors with meanings attached, I loved the gay pride, bi, pan and genderqueer flags." ^[4] The Genderqueer Pride Flag is the closest conceptual precursor: it was the identity term and flag Poole found fitting but too broad, which is what prompted a separate design. ^[4] No source identifies one palette or layout as the sole template. Among the designs this flag influenced are the later fluid-gender flags, including the Genderflux Pride Flag, the Demifluid Pride Flag, the Genderfae Pride Flag, the Genderfaun Pride Flag, the Boyflux Pride Flag and the Girlflux Pride Flag.

Colors & Symbolism

Five stripes standing for femininity, all genders, the combination of femininity and masculinity, the lack of gender, and masculinity, in the creator's own assignment. ^[1]

Hex values measured from the PNG attached to Poole's 2012 Tumblr submission. ^[1]

The table gives the creator's own assignment: "Pink for Femininity, Blue for Masculinity, Purple for both, Black for the lack of gender, and White for all genders." ^[1] Most later reference works reverse the white and black meanings, giving white as the lack of gender and black as all or other genders. The earliest located reversal is the Wikimedia Commons file description of 19 June 2013; ^[3] Flags of the World, Library.LGBT, the University of British Columbia and the Human Rights Campaign carry the reversal, ^{[9] [16] [11] [10]} while LGBTQ Nation and the LGBTQIA+ Wiki follow Poole. ^{[2] [17]} The University of British Columbia's guide renders purple as androgyny. ^[11] This entry uses the creator's assignment.

The white stripe of the measured 2012 file is off-white and the black stripe near-black; the conceptual names White and Black are retained. ^[1] Poole published no colour specification and describes choosing the shades by eye: "I just played around with the shades to what I found aesthetically pleasing. The purple in particular. I loved the shade." ^[4] Library.LGBT's widely copied reference palette gives the same pink and purple with pure white, pure black and #323DBC for the blue; it states that it could not source where, when or by whom the flag was designed. ^[16] Flags of the World records that shades vary in manufactured flags, pink typically darker and purple and blue sometimes lighter than in the original. ^[9]

Design

Aspect Ratio

3:5 · standard

Orientation

horizontal

Stripe Count

5

Layout

horizontal_stripes

Stripes (Top → Bottom)

Pink, White, Purple, Black, Blue

A horizontal five-stripe flag: pink, white, purple, black and blue from the top, each stripe of equal depth across the full width of the field, with no emblem, canton or charge. ^{[1] [16]} The black stripe between purple and blue distinguishes the flag from the several later genderfluid designs that drop or move it. ^[15] Flags of the World records that the flag is frequently hoisted with the colour order reversed, concluding that "this has become another 'no right side up' flag, but with pink at the top still being preferred hoisting"; reversed hoisting is a display variant, not a separate design. ^[9]

Usage & Adoption

First Users

The genderfluidity Tumblr blog, which received and published Poole's 3 August 2012 submission ^[1]

Geographic Usage

United Kingdom, Poland, Denmark, Israel and the United States, in dated photographs collected by Flags of the World between 2017 and 2023 ^[9]

Online Usage

Tumblr, where the design was first circulated and where the 2012 submission has 418 notes ^[1], Wikimedia Commons, from June 2013 ^[3], Institutional pride flag guides including the Human Rights Campaign and the University of British Columbia ^{[10] [11]}

Event Usage

Leeds Pride, 7 August 2017, the earliest dated sighting in the Flags of the World list ^[9], Equality March, Katowice, 11 September 2021 ^[9], London Pride, 1 July 2023 ^[9]

Current Status

active

Poole reports seeing the flag on merchandise made by others, including "scarves and pins and all sorts of things" in convention artist alleys. ^[4]

Image Archive

Documented Use

Unresolved Earlier Visual Match

Discourse & Debates

• Whether the flag photographed at Columbus Pride in 2005 is the same symbol. The photographs are genuinely from 2005 and show this stripe order, but no 2005 source names the flag, and the identification dates to 2015. ^{[12] [13] [14] [9]}

Common misidentifications

• The white and black meanings are commonly given in reverse of the creator's own statement. ^{[1] [3]}
• The Human Rights Campaign dates the flag to 2013 rather than 2012. ^[10]
• Library.LGBT publishes the flag without a creator or date, stating it could not source them. ^[16]

Flags of the World describes genderfluid people as "a subgroup of genderqueer people," adding that they are "considered distinctive enough to have a flag of their own." ^[9] Poole's account is the reverse in emphasis: genderqueer fitted but felt too broad, which is why a separate flag was made. ^[4] "Genderfluid flag" and "genderfluidity flag" are used interchangeably; the Wikimedia Commons file uses the latter. ^[3]

Footnotes & Citations

Image Sources

Rendering

standard five-stripe, pink at the top

• Credit: Design by JJ Poole · Creator's 2012 Tumblr submission
• Columbus, Ohio, 25 June 2005. One of three photographs showing a flag in this stripe order on one Pride float, seven years before Poole's design. Steve Richmond, the photographer, did not name the flag; the identification as a genderfluid flag was made by Flags of the World in 2015, and the 2005 flag's identity and maker remain unknown. ^{[12] [9]} · Credit: Steve Richmond · Flickr · CC BY 2.0
• The Equality March in Katowice, 11 September 2021. The Genderfluid Pride Flag flies at the upper right beside a rainbow flag and a transgender flag. Flags of the World cites this photograph among the sightings in the original colour order. ^{[18] [9]} · Credit: Silar · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
• London Pride, 1 July 2023, on the parade from Green Park. The Genderfluid Pride Flag is carried at the left of the frame, all five stripes visible. Flags of the World lists this photograph among its examples of the flag hoisted in the original colour order. ^{[8] [9]} · Credit: MangakaMaiden Photography · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0