Intersex Ally Flag (Rosie)

Overview

The source reports that The Chain Collective, who identify as bodily intersex, objected to an earlier intersex ally flag because its straight-flag field appeared to imply that all intersex people were gay. Rosie made this alternative at their request. ^[4][1]

A replacement rather than an addition. The design it answers is tothemax04's intersex ally flag, posted on Tumblr on 11 November 2020, which sets an intersex-coloured A on the straight ally flag's black and white field ^[5]. That design was uploaded to Wikimedia Commons on 19 August 2021, and Rosie's replacement appears in the wiki's Allies article the following day ^[6][1]. No source connects the two events.

Identity & Context

Represented Identity

Allies of intersex people

Subcommunity

Ally and solidarity flags

An ally flag rather than an identity flag: it carries the intersex device on the ally flags' A, for people supporting intersex people rather than for intersex people themselves. ^[4]

Creators

The Creator

Attribution notes

Rosie is credited as the designer and The Chain Collective as the requester. Rosie made two intersex ally flags: this one, added to the wiki in revision 40317, and a separate alternate requested by FoxBanana, added in the next revision ^[1][2]. The image this entry holds is the first of the two, identified by file: it matches IntersexAlly.png byte for byte ^[3].

Rosie is a pseudonymous attribution. The work was published under that name, associated with the former MintyTheKitty account on the wiki, which now redirects to FruitySystem. Nothing further about the person or people behind it is recorded here. The pairing of designs to requesters follows the wiki's revision history. ^[1][2]

Origin

Digital Origin

Yes

Origin Type

online publication

Physical Origin Status

not documented

Documented only through the LGBTQIA+ Wiki, which records no place of making. The origin is digital and no location is attributed. ^[4][1]

Dates & Chronology

Year Created

2021

Earliest located publication

August 20, 2021

Documented record

Wiki publication 20 August 2021; adoption not established

Creation Bounds

The design was added to the LGBTQIA+ Wiki's Allies article in revision 40317, dated 20 August 2021, and Rosie's separate alternate followed in the next revision the same day ^[1][2]. That is the earliest located publication, not necessarily the date of making, which no source gives. The design answers tothemax04's intersex ally flag of 11 November 2020, so it is later than that ^[5].

No case of use has been located. A wiki reproducing a flag is not a case of its use. ^[4]

Rosie made two intersex ally flags. This is the first, added in revision 40317; the second, a separate design requested by FoxBanana, was added in the next revision and is captioned on the wiki as the alternate. The archive holds no record of it. ^[1][2][7]

The objection was made again later, separately and about ally flags in general. Tumblr user thee-radio-host-is-a-kookaburra made a set of them on 13 August 2023 after thinking it odd that most ally flags had the straight flag in the background. ^[4]

Lineage

Indirect influences

Straight Ally Pride Flag, Intersex Pride Flag

The design this one answers is tothemax04's intersex ally flag of November 2020. That is the specific flag The Chain Collective is reported to have objected to, and the specific thing this design replaces: its straight-flag field is gone and seven pink-to-blue bands stand in its place ^[5][4]. It has no record in this archive, so the relationship is carried in words rather than as a link.

Two influences are structural rather than genealogical. The A is the ally flags' letter form, shared across that whole family and taken from none of them in particular. The yellow field and unbroken purple ring recall the Intersex Pride Flag of 2013, which is a visual observation: no source states the device was taken from it, and the sampled values differ, #F8D84A against #FFD800 and #701797 against #7902AA. ^[3]

Rosie's second intersex ally flag, requested by FoxBanana and added to the wiki in the following revision, is a companion of this one rather than a parent or child. It is a separate design and is not held here. ^[2][7]

Colors & Symbolism

No statement of meaning has been located beyond the reason for the redesign. The yellow field and the purple ring visibly recall the Intersex Pride Flag of 2013, which is an observed design relationship rather than a creator statement; no source records where the device was taken from. Nothing explains the seven-band field, and no meaning is attributed to any individual band here. ^[4]

Unbroken purple ring on yellow

The device of the Intersex Pride Flag, carried into the ally flags' A. The creator of the earlier intersex ally design explained setting the ring high rather than centred because it is "supposed to be unbroken, which would not be accomplished in the middle of the flag"; Rosie's flag repeats the high placement, though no source says why. ^[5][3]

The reason for the redesign is documented; the meanings of its parts are not. ^[4]

No values are published by the designer. These nine are measured from IntersexAlly.png itself, which is the file the wiki carries rather than a redraw. The A's yellow and the ring's purple are near the Intersex Pride Flag's colours without being them, the yellow visibly paler, so the resemblance is observable but the values are not shared. The seven bands of the field match no colour table elsewhere in this archive, and no source explains them. ^[3]

Design

Aspect Ratio

755:427 · apparent

Ratio Notes

Measured from the wiki-held artwork, 755 by 427 pixels, about 1.77:1; no proportion was published for the design. ^[3]

Orientation

horizontal

Stripe Count

7

Layout

field with an A-shaped chevron

Stripes (Top → Bottom)

pink, orchid, violet, white, light purple, periwinkle, light blue

Center Symbol

An unbroken purple ring, the device of the intersex flag, set high within the yellow A

Additional Symbols

a large yellow A rising from the lower edge, the ally flags' letter form

Seven horizontal bands, pink at the top through white in the middle to light blue at the foot, behind a large yellow A. Measured from the file: the A's apex reaches the top edge at x 378 against a flag centre of 377.5; the form is solid down to 67 per cent of the height, where it opens into two legs, each 250 pixels wide at the foot with a 254-pixel gap between them through which the field shows. The purple ring is 204 pixels across, 47.8 per cent of the height, set 38 pixels above the flag's vertical centre and 2 pixels left of its horizontal centre. Its stroke measures 14 pixels and the yellow shows through the middle, so it is a ring and not a filled disc. The bands are unequal, between 12.6 and 15.7 per cent of the height, with divisions at 58, 121, 184, 251, 315 and 370 pixels. ^[3]

No construction sheet or designer specification has been located.

Seven horizontal bands running pink, orchid and violet through white to light purple, periwinkle and light blue, with a large yellow A across the whole height carrying an unbroken purple ring set high within it. ^[3]

Usage & Adoption

Online Usage

LGBTQIA+ Wiki

Current Status

Wiki-documented design; no located adoption

No documented use has been located. A wiki reproducing a flag is not a case of its use, and no independent display, community adoption or physical production is recorded. ^[4]

Image Archive

Flag design

Discourse & Debates

Common misidentifications

• Distinct from Rosie's second intersex ally flag, a separate design requested by FoxBanana and captioned on the wiki as the alternate. The two are not interchangeable and this entry covers only the first. ^[2][7]
• Distinct from tothemax04's earlier intersex ally flag, which sets the intersex device on the straight ally flag's black and white field. ^[5]

Criticisms

• The design this one replaces was objected to by The Chain Collective, who the wiki records as bodily intersex, on the ground that building an intersex ally flag on the straight flag appeared to imply that all intersex people were gay; the objection is reported by the wiki rather than documented in the Collective's own words. ^[4][1]

Footnotes & Citations

Image Sources

Rendering

Rosie, first design, as held by the LGBTQIA+ Wiki

• Rosie's second, separate intersex ally flag, requested by FoxBanana and added to the wiki in the revision after this one. A different design, captioned on the wiki as the alternate. Not held in this archive. · Credit: Design by Rosie; requested by FoxBanana · LGBTQIA+ Wiki, File:Intersex-ally.png · Companion design, cited not reproduced
• The earlier intersex ally flag this design answers, by tothemax04, posted 11 November 2020 and uploaded to Wikimedia Commons on 19 August 2021 by the editor YT0, then converted to a true SVG in October 2023 by Rubýñ. · Credit: Design by tothemax04; Commons file uploaded by YT0, vectorised by Rubýñ · Wikimedia Commons, File:Intersex Ally flag.svg · Earlier design, cited not reproduced · CC0 1.0 Universal, as tagged by the Commons uploaderRights The CC0 tag was applied by the editor who uploaded the file, not by tothemax04. It does not establish the original artist's terms and has no bearing on Rosie's artwork.
• The exact wiki file, unaltered: 755 by 427 PNG, SHA-256 0b9ebfad5e7bffc995cc6d615e1de2e3400a65bdbcb14a7225879dec15745ed0. · Credit: Design by Rosie; file hosted by the LGBTQIA+ Wiki · LGBTQIA+ Wiki, File:IntersexAlly.png · Source file, unalteredRights Design attributed to Rosie. No creator-issued licence for the artwork has been located; the wiki's CC BY-SA 4.0 terms govern its page text and wiki-hosted material where applicable, not necessarily the underlying artwork.