Otter Pride Flag (2018, toadhops)
Otter / Bear / Gay Male Subculture Flag ·
Published by DeviantArt user toadhops on 5 June 2018, this Otter Pride Flag uses five horizontal bands of blue, white, and gray with a black paw print. [1] Toadhops said the blue refers to otters' aquatic nature and later uploaded the original 800 by 500 artwork to Wikimedia Commons under CC0. [1][2] The six-stripe Otter Pride Flag Bearback published in 2021 is a separate design. [3][4]
Key facts
- Designer
- toadhops
- Created
- First documented public use
- In use
- 2018–present
- Aspect Ratio
- 8:5 · apparent
- Ratio Notes
- Measured from the designer's own Commons upload, 800 by 500 pixels, which reduces exactly to 8:5. The DeviantArt page lists the same dimensions. [1][2]
- Stripes
- 5
- Represented Identity
- otter, a gay and queer male subcultural identity
Also known as
- Gay Otter Flag
Archive categories Subculture Pride Flags
Overview
Toadhops posted the flag to DeviantArt on 5 June 2018 with a direct rationale: "Otter pride flag because I don't want to use the bear flag." The source artwork has five equal horizontal bands, ordered medium blue, pale blue, white, light gray, and charcoal, with a black clip-art paw angled across the upper hoist. Toadhops identified only one meaning, saying the blue stands for otters being aquatic. [1][2]
"Otter" is a flexible gay and queer male subcultural identity, commonly associated with leaner or average-built men with body hair and often understood as bear-adjacent. [5][6] Definitions vary, and the term is a self-description rather than a fixed body rule. [5][7] The flag circulated through online flag and identity-reference spaces. In May 2022, toadhops uploaded the original 800 by 500 PNG to Wikimedia Commons and released it under CC0, providing the strongest available attribution and reuse record. [2]
Identity & Context
- Represented Identity
- otter, a gay and queer male subcultural identity
- Subcommunity
- bear-adjacent gay and queer male subculture
Creators
The Creator
toadhops
Designer
toadhops is the DeviantArt handle that published the Otter Pride Flag on 5 June 2018; the deviation remains publicly available and carries a copyright line reading "© 2018 - 2026 toadhops". [1] The same handle uploaded the artwork to Wikimedia Commons on 5 May 2022 under CC0, naming the 2018 deviation as its source. [2] Nothing further about the person behind the account is documented in the located sources.
Otter pride flag because I don't want to use the bear flag. [1]
The blue just stands for the fact that otters are aquatic. [1]
Used a clip art pawprint. [1]
nice to see this gaining rounds again during pride! As always, feel free to use. Credit is always appreciated but never expected, I just like being able to find fun things that use my flag! [1]
Motivations
Attribution notes
Posted to DeviantArt on 5 June 2018 as deviation 748382884. The description carries a later passage the designer marked "**2024**": "nice to see this gaining rounds again during pride! As always, feel free to use. Credit is always appreciated but never expected, I just like being able to find fun things that use my flag!" [1]
In May 2022 the same handle uploaded the flag to Wikimedia Commons, crediting the 2018 deviation and releasing it under CC0. [2] The two statements agree: reuse is free and credit is welcome rather than required. No real name, location or biography is documented behind the toadhops handle, and the located sources give no pronoun for the designer.
Origin
- Place Type
- online platform
- Digital Origin
- Yes
Published on DeviantArt as deviation 748382884 on 5 June 2018. The located sources do not establish where the flag was made. [1]
Dates & Chronology
- Year Created
- Exact date
- First public use
- Period in Use
- 2018–present
The deviation has remained publicly available since 2018. [1] The designer's own Commons upload of May 2022 places the artwork in the Commons categories for male homosexuality flags, subculture flags and gay culture. [2] A note the designer added to the deviation in 2024 reports renewed circulation: "nice to see this gaining rounds again during pride!" [1]
The paw print is, in the designer's words, "a clip art pawprint" rather than original art. The located sources do not identify the clip art's origin or rights holder. [1] The deviation is tagged pride, prideflag, pridemonth, otterpride, sexualityflags and pridemonth2018. [1]
Lineage
The 1995 International Bear Brotherhood Flag is the flag the designer named and declined to reuse, which makes it a stated precedent rather than a design influence: "Otter pride flag because I don't want to use the bear flag." [1]
Bearback published a separate Otter Pride Flag for the same subculture in 2021. The two are different designs: five bands here against six there, a different palette, a different paw graphic, and a different published proportion. Nothing located documents a design relationship, a shared designer, or a submission between them. [3][4]
Colors & Symbolism
The designer published one meaning, for the blue: it marks otters as aquatic. No meaning was given for the white, either gray, or the paw print. [1]
| Colour | Hex | Meaning | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Medium blue | #6DC5FC | Otters' aquatic nature. The designer's single statement covers the blue: "The blue just stands for the fact that otters are aquatic." [1] | Sampled from a flat interior of the designer's 800 by 500 Commons PNG. [2] |
| Pale blue | #9AD7FC | Otters' aquatic nature, under the same statement. [1] | Sampled from a flat interior of the designer's 800 by 500 Commons PNG. [2] |
| White | #FFFFFF | — | Sampled from a flat interior of the designer's 800 by 500 Commons PNG. [2] |
| Light gray | #B4B4B4 | — | Sampled from a flat interior of the designer's 800 by 500 Commons PNG. [2] |
| Charcoal gray | #2A2A2A | — | Sampled from a flat interior of the designer's 800 by 500 Commons PNG. [2] |
| Black (paw print) | #000000 | — | Sampled from the paw print in the designer's 800 by 500 Commons PNG. [2] |
This flag has no official digital palette. Color values shown are approximate.
The two blue bands carry the designer's one statement about "the blue". The white, light gray and charcoal bands and the black paw print have no creator-issued meaning, and none is supplied here. [1]
The designer published no hex values. These were sampled from the flat interiors of the 800 by 500 PNG toadhops uploaded to Wikimedia Commons. That file uses unmodulated fills, so the sampled values are exact rather than approximate. [2]
Design
- Aspect Ratio
- 8:5 · apparent
- Ratio Notes
- Measured from the designer's own Commons upload, 800 by 500 pixels, which reduces exactly to 8:5. The DeviantArt page lists the same dimensions. [1][2]
- Orientation
- horizontal
- Stripe Count
- 5
- Layout
- horizontal_stripes_with_emblem
- Stripes (Top → Bottom)
- Medium blue, Pale blue, White, Light gray, Charcoal gray
- Additional Symbols
- Paw print, in black, at the upper hoist. Angled diagonally and overlapping the top three bands. A "clip art pawprint" by the designer's own account, of unidentified origin. [1]
Five equal horizontal bands, each 100 pixels deep in the 800 by 500 original, ordered medium blue, pale blue, white, light gray and charcoal gray. A black paw print sits at the upper hoist, angled from lower left to upper right, its toes in the first band and its pad reaching into the third. [2]
The file toadhops uploaded to Wikimedia Commons is the deviation's own 800 by 500 PNG, with flat unmodulated fills and each band exactly one fifth of the height. The DeviantArt page lists the same 800 by 500 dimensions. [1][2]
Five equal horizontal stripes ordered top to bottom: medium blue, pale blue, white, light gray and charcoal gray. A black clip-art paw print is angled across the upper hoist, overlapping the first three stripes. [1][2]
Usage & Adoption
- First Users
- toadhops (designer)
- Online Usage
- DeviantArt, the 2018 origin deviation, still publicly available [1], Wikimedia Commons, from the designer's own upload of May 2022 [2]
- Current Status
- active
Documented circulation is online: the origin deviation, and the designer's Commons upload, which files the artwork under the Commons flag and gay culture categories. [1][2] The designer's 2024 note reports renewed use during Pride. [1]
Image Archive
Related designs
Discourse & Debates
- Bearback published a separate Otter Pride Flag in 2021 and promoted it as the "first ever official" one. That phrase is Bearback's marketing language for its own design and does not bear on this flag, which was published three years earlier and is a different design: five bands against six, a different palette, and a different paw graphic. [1][3][4]
Common misidentifications
- This record previously carried the 2021 Bearback artwork in place of the toadhops design, which made the two flags appear identical and produced an attribution conflict that the source files do not support. The image is now the designer's own 800 by 500 file. [2]
"Otter" is self-applied, and sources that define it disagree about where its boundaries fall. PinkNews calls the exact definition "up for debate"; Grindr writes that defining an otter "really depends on who you ask". [5][7]
Editorial note
Several otter flags coexist and this record is not treated as canonical. The 2021 Bearback flag is catalogued separately because it is a separate design, not a variant of this one.
Footnotes & Citations
Sources and footnotes 8 sources
- 1. Designer page Flag - Otter Pride. toadhops. DeviantArt (2018-06-05). Accessed 2026-08-14
The origin publication. Carries the designer's description, the 2024 addendum, the tags and the 800 by 500 dimensions.
- 2. Image file page File:Otter flag.png. toadhops. Wikimedia Commons (2022-05-05). Accessed 2026-08-14
The designer's own upload, 800 by 500, credited to the 2018 deviation and released under CC0. The authoritative source artwork and the formal statement of the flag's rights position.
- 3. Official First Official Otter Pride Flag. Bearback. Bearback (bearbackgear.com). Accessed 2026-08-14
Bearback's own page for its separate 2021 flag, cited here only for what that flag is and how Bearback describes it.
- 4. Image file page File:Official Otter Pride Flag by Bearbackgear.jpg. JusrtMakingTheWorldBetter. Wikimedia Commons (2021-06-10). Accessed 2026-08-14
The published Bearback artwork, 1295 by 778, cited here for the comparison of the two designs.
- 5. Articles & Reports What is an otter? The gay tribe for lean guys with a bit of scruff. Danny Polaris. PinkNews (2018-05-30). Accessed 2026-08-14
Identity context. States that the exact definition is "up for debate".
- 6. Articles & Reports What's an 'Otter' in the Gay Community? Why More Men Are Embracing the Term.. Men's Health. Accessed 2026-08-14
Identity context, quoting psychotherapist Joe Kort and clinical sexologist Phillips on the term's meaning and its emergence within the bear subculture.
- 7. Blogs & Personal Sources Gay Otters: A Guide to Grindr's Fave Little Furballs. Grindr. Accessed 2026-08-14
Identity context. States that defining an otter "really depends on who you ask".
- Image file page Otter Pride Flag (2018, toadhops) — archived image. toadhops. Flaggypedia archive (2018-06-05). Accessed 2026-08-14 · Archived version
Image Sources
- Rendering
- toadhops 2018 original
- The designer's own file, as published on DeviantArt in 2018 and on Commons in 2022. [1][2] · Credit: toadhops · Wikimedia Commons · 800 × 500Rights CC0 1.0 public domain dedication by the designer. No credit required, though the designer says it is appreciated. [2]
- A separate flag: the Otter Pride Flag Bearback published in 2021, shown for comparison. It has six bands rather than five, a different palette, a different paw graphic, and a different published proportion. It is not a version of the toadhops design. · Credit: Bearback (bearbackgear.com), via Wikimedia Commons · Wikimedia Commons · 1295 × 778 · CC BY-SA 4.0Rights Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 on Commons by uploader JusrtMakingTheWorldBetter, who marked the file "Own work". Recorded as published. [4]