Omnisexual Pride Flag

Overview

To provide a distinct visual symbol for omnisexual identity at a moment when the multisexual flag landscape (bisexual, pansexual, polysexual) was expanding but did not yet include a flag for people who experience attraction to all genders while still recognizing gender as a component of that attraction. ^[1][3]

The flag emerged during the mid-2010s wave of internet identity-flag creation, when DeviantArt and Tumblr users were rapidly producing flags for orientations that the existing bisexual and pansexual flags did not specifically represent. The word 'omnisexual' has much older roots: it appears as early as 1878 in a literary context, and in 1984 the text Sexual Choices: An Introduction to Human Sexuality described omnisexuality as 'a state of attraction to all sexes.'

However, the term did not gain significant community adoption until the 2010s, when growing awareness of nonbinary gender identities made the distinction between 'attraction regardless of gender' (pansexual) and 'attraction to all genders where gender is a factor' (omnisexual) newly meaningful to many people. ^[1][3]

Identity & Context

Represented Identity

omnisexual

Subcommunity

multisexual umbrella / bi+ spectrum (community framing)

Creators

The Creator

Origin

Digital Origin

true

Digital origin; no verified physical location.

Commonly tied to DeviantArt circulation in mid-2015. ^[1] No specific geographic origin was established.

Dates & Chronology

Year Created

2015

First public use

July 4, 2015

Period in Use

2015–present

The flag is used in online identity communities, community glossaries, and flag-reference databases including Library.LGBT and the LGBTQIA+ Wiki. Its mainstream institutional coverage remains thinner than bisexual and pansexual flags, though it appears in some organizational pride flag guides. The visibility of omnisexuality as a distinct orientation increased during the late 2010s alongside broader public conversations about the multisexual spectrum, particularly after celebrities like Janelle Monáe discussed attraction in terms that resonated with the omnisexual distinction. ^[1][3]

Omnisexuality is defined in relation to neighboring multisexual identities. Where bisexuality describes attraction to more than one gender, pansexuality is often characterized as 'gender-blind' attraction, and polysexuality describes attraction to many but not all genders, omnisexuality names attraction to all genders while preserving gender as a meaningful factor in the experience of attraction. An omnisexual person may feel that attraction to different genders has different qualities or textures while still being attracted to all genders. This distinction is the reason the flag exists as a separate symbol rather than a variant of the pansexual flag, though popular media often collapses the two. ^[2][3]

Lineage

Indirect influences

Abrosexual Pride Flag, Bisexual Pride Flag, Pansexual Pride Flag, Polysexual Pride Flag, Rainbow Pride Flag

Direct children

Omniromantic Pride Flag

Related flags

Multisexual Pride Flag

This is a sibling in the multisexual / bi+ cluster. It is distinct from pansexual and is not a child of pansexuality; no creator testimony supporting such a derivation has been found. Sources repeatedly note that omnisexual is commonly collapsed into pansexuality despite representing a separate identity. ^{[1] [2]}

Lineage tree

Every record reachable from this one through documented parent and child relationships: 2 records across 2 generations.

This record

Omnisexual Pride Flag

Children

Omniromantic Pride Flag

Colors & Symbolism

The flag uses five stripes to represent the spectrum of omnisexual attraction, with a dark center stripe marking attraction that includes genders beyond the binary. ^[1]

Library.LGBT reference palette (not official creator specification)

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

The five-stripe meanings are relatively stable in the sources reviewed, though some shorter guides compress them. ^[1] The center dark-purple stripe marks attraction that includes genders beyond the binary, not just a binary pair. ^[1] These meanings were developed by the community rather than stated by the creator. Pastelmemer never published an explanation of the color choices, so all stripe interpretations should be understood as community consensus rather than confirmed creator intent. ^[5]

No official creator-published hex values have been found. The Library.LGBT palette is treated as the reconstruction base. ^[1] Exact values are circulating consensus, not an official specification.

Design

Aspect Ratio

3:5 · standard

Orientation

horizontal

Stripe Count

5

Layout

horizontal_stripes

Stripes (Top → Bottom)

Light Pink, Stronger Pink, Dark Purple, Blue, Light Blue

Five equally sized horizontal stripes ordered top to bottom: light pink, stronger pink, dark purple, blue, light blue. No emblem or additional symbols. ^[1]

Usage & Adoption

Online Usage

Used in online identity communities and flag-reference databases

Current Status

active

Documented in community wikis and flag guides but has thinner mainstream institutional coverage than bisexual and pansexual flags. ^[1]

Discourse & Debates

• Whether omnisexual and pansexual are synonymous or meaningfully distinct. When distinguished, pansexual usually emphasizes attraction regardless of gender ('gender-blind'), while omnisexual preserves that gender still plays a role in the experience of attraction. Some individuals identify with both labels simultaneously. ^[2][3]
• Whether omnisexual belongs under the bisexual umbrella. Every omnisexual person technically fits the bisexual definition (attraction to more than one gender), but not every bisexual person fits the omnisexual definition (attraction to all genders with gender as a factor). The relationship is one of subset, not synonymy. ^[3]
• Some view the pan/omni distinction as merely semantic, arguing that the difference between 'attraction regardless of gender' and 'attraction to all genders where gender matters' is too fine to sustain separate identities. Scholar Shiri Eisner has argued that terms like omnisexual and pansexual are sometimes used to replace 'bisexual' based on a contested claim that bisexuality is inherently binary, a framing many bisexual activists reject. ^[5] The word 'omnisexual' itself appeared as early as 1959, in Lawrence Lipton's The Holy Barbarians, well before the current identity-flag era. ^[5]

Common misidentifications

• Frequently mislabeled as pansexual in mainstream media and shorter pride flag guides that do not distinguish between all-gender orientations

Common confusions

• Omnisexual and pansexual are frequently treated as synonyms, though community sources explicitly preserve a distinction based on whether gender is a factor in attraction ^[2][3]
• Omnisexual is sometimes collapsed into pansexual discussions in shorter guides, erasing the specific nuance the label is designed to capture

Criticisms

• The omnisexual flag is sometimes dismissed as unnecessary by people who view the pansexual flag as already covering all-gender attraction. Omnisexual community members counter that collapsing the two erases a lived distinction: experiencing gender as a meaningful component of attraction is fundamentally different from experiencing attraction as gender-blind, and that difference deserves its own symbol. ^[2][3]

'Omnisexual' derives from Latin omnis ('all'), while 'pansexual' derives from Greek pan ('all'). Despite sharing an etymological meaning, the two terms have been differentiated in community usage since the 2010s, with omnisexual emphasizing gender-awareness and pansexual emphasizing gender-indifference. ^[2][3]

Footnotes & Citations

Image Sources

Rendering

five-stripe standard

• The omnisexual pride flag, created by DeviantArt user Pastelmemer (now known as Roswell / PastelRoswell) and in circulation on or before July 4, 2015. The five stripes represent the spectrum of omnisexual attraction: light pink and stronger pink for femininity and women, dark purple for attraction to genders outside the binary, and blue and light blue for masculinity and men. Omnisexual identity describes attraction to all genders where gender remains a factor in the experience of attraction. · Community reference