Lithromantic / Akoiromantic Pride Flag (2014)

Overview

To give the lithromantic / akoiromantic experience a visual symbol and to mark it as part of the aromantic spectrum. The dual term history and the dual flag attributions make any single 'reason for creation' framing partial; both are preserved. ^[2][7]

The flag and the term emerged in mid-2014 from the same Tumblr a-spec community that produced cupiosexual, aegosexual, frayromantic, apothisexual, and other a-spec micro-label flags. The lith / akoi cluster differs from the rest of that wave because it arrived already contested: the akoi alternative was proposed while the lith term was still settling, and the dispute has not been resolved. TheJasmineElf's five-stripe proposal, the akoi rename, and the essay defending the lith prefix all date to a five-week span of April and May 2014. ^[1][5][6]

Identity & Context

Represented Identity

lithromantic / akoiromantic

Subcommunity

aromantic spectrum

Language Context

Both prefixes are Greek-derived. Lith from lithos ('stone'); akoi / akoine from koine ('common, shared'). The choice between them encodes the central dispute. ^[8][9]

Creators

The Creators

Attribution notes

Two distinct designs carry the lithromantic name, and they are visually unrelated. TheJasmineElf posted a five-stripe red, orange, yellow, white, and near-black flag on April 17, 2014, at 20:04 UTC as "my official proposal for a lithromantic and lithsexual flag"; the post survives in full in a same-day reblog by cisphobeofficial, with the artwork, each stripe's meaning, and hex values. ^[1] The more widely circulated version is a three-stripe green, yellow, and gray design credited in secondary sources to Tumblr user TheGenderfluidLifeChoseMe, with no exact date; that blog has been deleted and the originating post has not been located, so the attribution rests on the wikis that repeat it. ^[2][7] Pride Color Schemes, cataloguing the same designs in June 2016, disagrees: it lists the three-stripe flag as having an unknown designer and credits thegenderfluidlifechoseme with a different, five-stripe akoiromantic flag in red, pastel green, white, grey and black, alongside a red, purple, white, grey and black akoisexual companion. Its stripe meanings for that pair are red for feeling attraction, pastel green for the aromantic spectrum and pastel purple for the asexual spectrum, white as a filler colour taken from the akoiromantic and akoisexual flag, grey for somewhere between attraction and non-attraction, and black taken from that same flag. ^[4] The Pride-Flags account on DeviantArt published a 5000 by 3000 pixel rendering of the three-stripe design on May 2, 2016, which became the most-circulated reference image. ^[3]

The term history is contested in its own right. Lithromantic is most often credited to Tumblr user Ian (stopanthropomorphizingme) and dated on or before May 22, 2014. ^[8][9] queercaptainflint, in the May 22, 2014 essay "On Lith and Stone," claims the coinage firsthand: "I am the one who coined the term. My partner is lithromantic and we needed a word for it." The two accounts have not been reconciled. ^[6]

Origin

Digital Origin

Yes

No verified physical origin location. Without a confirmed location, Indigenous land context cannot be attributed.

Originated on Tumblr in mid-2014 inside the broader a-spec micro-label community. Specific physical origin not documented.

Dates & Chronology

Year Created

2014

First public use

April 17, 2014

Period in Use

2014–present

Both terms remain in active use. Wikis and pride flag guides typically list one or the other as the lead label and treat the other as alternate. The Pride-Flags DeviantArt account published a 2016 reproduction (May 2, 2016) that became the most-circulated visual reference. ^[3]

cloud (cisphobeofficial) proposed the akoi / akoine alternative on May 19, 2014 (May 18 in United States time zones): "how about something with koine in it? it translates to common/shared/relationship so akoinesexual/romantic?", reasoning it was "better to have a term that's unarguably non-appropriative." TheJasmineElf, designer of the five-stripe flag, replied "thanks Cloud! <3 I like it". ^[5][10]

On May 22, 2014, queercaptainflint posted "On Lith and Stone," defending the prefix and claiming its coinage: "I am the one who coined the term. My partner is lithromantic and we needed a word for it." The essay argues that Stone "as a cultural phenomenon originates in the lesbian community" while "as a personal identity comes primarily from nonbinary transmasculine people," and that "degendering Stone is not only acceptable, but critical." Cor (epochryphal, co/coself), who later coined quoiromantic, reblogged the essay on May 27 with an addendum urging explicit inclusion of nonbinary CAFAB people who are not transmasculine. ^[6] Wikis separately credit the lithromantic coinage to Ian (stopanthropomorphizingme) on or before May 22, 2014; the accounts have not been reconciled. ^[8][9]

Lineage

Related flags

A-Spec Pride Flag, Akoisexual / Lithsexual Pride Flag (2014), Aroflux Accessible Flag (2020), Aroflux Pride Flag, Aromantic Pride Flag, Aromantic Pride Flag (Yellow Center, 2014)

+ 4 more

Frayromantic Five-Stripe Pride Flag, Fraysexual and Frayromantic Pride Flag (2014, pridearchive), Grayromantic Pride Flag (2014), Quoiromantic Pride Flag (2015, Cor / epochryphal)

Sits in the 2014 Tumblr aromantic-spectrum micro-label cluster alongside grayromantic, frayromantic, and the quoiromantic precursor (which itself dates to December 2012 but received its own flag in 2015). The cluster holds the database's largest concentration of contested-attribution Tumblr-origin entries; the lith / akoi pair is the most heavily contested, with competing flag attributions, competing term coinages, and an appropriation debate dating from the moment of coinage. ^[2][7][8][9]

Colors & Symbolism

The flag marks the experience of feeling romantic attraction without wanting it reciprocated, or of losing romantic feelings if they are reciprocated. For the dominant three-stripe version, per-stripe meanings vary across reproductions and have not been verified against an originating post. For the five-stripe TheJasmineElf proposal, the meanings are creator-published: red for community, orange for lith-ness, yellow for varied relationships, white for romanticism and sexuality, near-black for aromanticism and asexuality. ^[2][1]

This flag has no official digital palette. Color values shown are approximate.

The dominant three-stripe version's per-stripe meanings are not listed because no originating post has been located to verify them. The five-stripe proposal's meanings are quoted in the sibling akoisexual / lithsexual entry, which shares the same origin post. ^[1]

The dominant three-stripe version's values are sampled from the Pride-Flags 2016 DeviantArt rendering, the most-circulated reference image; no originating post has been located to verify them. The five-stripe TheJasmineElf proposal has a creator-published palette, documented in the sibling akoisexual / lithsexual entry. ^[3][1] The green is measured from the publisher's 5000 by 3000 pixel PNG, whose byte count matches the size the deviation declares. An earlier version of this entry gave #7DBD42, a value that appears only in DeviantArt's lossy JPEG preview of that file.

Design

Aspect Ratio

3:5 · standard

Orientation

horizontal

Stripe Count

3

Layout

horizontal_stripes

Stripes (Top → Bottom)

Green, Yellow, Gray

The widely circulated version is three equal horizontal stripes: green, yellow, gray. The Pride-Flags 2016 rendering measures 5000 by 3000 pixels (5:3), with the stripes sampling #7DBD42, #FDEE23, and #A2A2A2. ^[3] TheJasmineElf's five-stripe April 2014 proposal (red, orange, yellow, white, near-black; 500 by 300 pixels, 3:5) is a distinct design, documented with its artwork in this entry's gallery and in the sibling akoisexual / lithsexual entry. ^[1] Three horizontal bands. No proportion has been published for the flag itself; the ratio recorded here is the archive's production standard. This field previously read "5:3 (Pride-Flags 2016 reproduction)", which describes a later reproduction rather than the design.

Dominant version: three equal horizontal stripes. TheJasmineElf proposal: five equal horizontal stripes.

Two distinct designs carry the lithromantic / akoiromantic name. The widely circulated version is three equal horizontal stripes, green, yellow, and gray, known from reproductions rather than an originating post; the Pride-Flags 2016 rendering samples #7DBD42, #FDEE23, and #A2A2A2. ^[2][3] TheJasmineElf's April 17, 2014 proposal is five equal stripes, red (#F14952), orange (#FF9E5E), yellow (#FFF546), white, and near-black (#2D2D2D stated), published with creator meanings and shared with the lithsexual identity. ^[1]

Usage & Adoption

Online Usage

Reproduced in aromantic-spectrum and a-spec pride flag guides on the LGBTQIA+ Wiki, Pride Flag Wiki, MOGAI Wiki, and the Aromantics Wiki. The Pride-Flags DeviantArt May 2, 2016 reproduction is the most widely circulated reference image. ^[2][7][3], Catalogued by Pride Color Schemes in June 2016, which lists this design as having an unknown designer. ^[4]

Current Status

active

Both terms (lithromantic and akoiromantic) remain in active community use. There is no consensus on which is preferred; usage varies by community and context. ^[8][9]

Image Archive

Original artwork

Original release material

Archive

Discourse & Debates

• Whether to use the lith prefix or the akoi prefix as the standard term. There is no community consensus. ^[8][9]
• Whether the appropriation argument about lithos as a stone butch reference is decisive or contested by stone-community members themselves. Reports vary on which side stone lesbians and transmasculine people generally take. ^[6]
• Whether the TheGenderfluidLifeChoseMe and TheJasmineElf attributions describe one artifact or two. The recovered TheJasmineElf post shows they are two visually unrelated designs: a five-stripe warm-palette proposal and the circulating three-stripe green, yellow, and gray flag. ^[1][2]

Common misidentifications

• Lithromantic is sometimes confused with apromantic, which is a separate identity, though the two are sometimes treated as overlapping in older sources.

Criticisms

• The lith prefix has been challenged on appropriation grounds: that lithos ("stone") invokes the stone butch tradition originating with butch lesbians and transmasculine people. Asked to explain, cloud (cisphobeofficial) wrote that "lith translates to stone and thus references the stone butch identity that is specific to lesbian/MAS women," later adding that a link had persuaded them "it is indeed 100% appropriative." cloud proposed the akoi / akoine alternative on May 19, 2014. ^[5][10]
• A counter-position holds that the lith term was coined from within the stone tradition. queercaptainflint, who identifies as "a transmasculine queer AFAB person" and as Stone, wrote in the May 22, 2014 essay "On Lith and Stone": "I am the one who coined the term. My partner is lithromantic and we needed a word for it," arguing that "degendering Stone is not only acceptable, but critical" and that "Stone belongs to all queers." Cor (epochryphal) reblogged the essay in agreement with an addendum on inclusion of non-transmasculine nonbinary CAFAB people. ^[6]

Lith- and akoi- (also akoine-, akoin-) are interchangeable prefixes for the same identity. The lith- prefix is older and more widely circulated; the akoi- prefix is preferred by community members who view the lith- etymology as appropriative. ^[8][9]

Footnotes & Citations

Image Sources

Rendering

TheGenderfluidLifeChoseMe (attribution disputed)

• TheJasmineElf's five-stripe proposal artwork from the April 17, 2014 post, offered to the lithromantic and lithsexual identities together. A distinct design from the circulating three-stripe version. ^[1] · Credit: TheJasmineElf · Tumblr (cisphobeofficial reblog)
• The "LITH PRIDE" sidebar button TheJasmineElf offered with the proposal. ^[1] · Credit: TheJasmineElf · Tumblr (cisphobeofficial reblog)
• The lithromantic / akoiromantic flag as published by the Pride-Flags DeviantArt archive account on 2 May 2016 at 5000 × 3000. ^[3] · Credit: Pride-Flags (DeviantArt), 2 May 2016. · DeviantArtRights No formal licence on the deviation (© Pride-Flags); its description states that all designs in the gallery "are free to use for anything pride-related."