Polyamorous Pride Flag (2019, Emma Essex)
Identity Pride Flag ·
A 2019 redesign of the polyamorous pride flag by Emma Essex, published on 27 September 2019 and released by her into the public domain two tweets later. It keeps the 1995 Evans color scheme in lighter, more saturated tones -- cyan, magenta and near-black -- and replaces the Greek letter pi with an infinity heart set in a white disc. Essex wrote that the Evans flag left her "so visually offended that I had to make my own version using the infinity heart instead, while maintaining the general meaning of the chosen colors." Alan M. of Polyamory in the News named it his favourite of the alternatives; PolyamProud listed it in its own 2022 timeline of the flags that mattered.
Key facts
- Designer
- Emma Essex
- Created
- First documented public use
- In use
- 2019-present
- Aspect Ratio
- 3:5 · standard
- Stripes
- 3
- Represented Identity
- polyamorous
Also known as
- Poly Flag (Essex)
- Essex Polyamory Flag
- Infinity Heart Polyamory Flag (2019)
Status Variant Proposed
Archive categories Sexual & Romantic Orientation Pride Flags
Overview
Essex wrote that the Evans flag left her "so visually offended that I had to make my own version using the infinity heart instead, while maintaining the general meaning of the chosen colors." [1]
By 2019 the 1995 Evans flag had been the polyamorous community's default for twenty-four years and had drawn sustained criticism for its palette and for the obscurity of its pi. The infinity heart had displaced the parrot as the community's usual emblem by about 2010, and a succession of redesigns replacing the pi with it had been circulating since Juliette Rouse's in 1999. Essex's was one of several to do so, and among the better documented. [1][2][3]
Identity & Context
- Represented Identity
- polyamorous
- Subcommunity
- non-monogamous / relationship style
- Movement
- polyamory visibility and pride
Creators
The Creator
Emma Essex
Designer
Emma Essex, posting as @HECKSCAPER, published a redesign of the polyamorous pride flag on 27 September 2019 and placed it in the public domain the same day. Nothing further about her is established in the sources read here. [4][1]
so visually offended that I had to make my own version using the infinity heart instead, while maintaining the general meaning of the chosen colors
Motivations
- To answer the 1995 Evans flag's palette while keeping its color meanings [1]
Stated inspirations
- The 1995 Jim Evans polyamory flag, whose color meanings she kept[1]
Broader influences
- The infinity heart, the community's usual emblem by 2019[2]
Attribution notes
Essex published the flag on Twitter as @HECKSCAPER on 27 September 2019 and released it into the public domain in a second tweet the same day. Her full name is given by PolyamProud's timeline against the handle Alan M. quotes. No further biographical information has been established here. [4][1][2]
Origin
- Digital Origin
- Yes
Digital origin; no verified physical location.
Published on Twitter on 27 September 2019 and uploaded to Wikimedia Commons three days later by the user Brimwats. [4]
Dates & Chronology
- Year Created
- Exact date
- First public use
- Period in Use
- 2019-present
Alan M. of Polyamory in the News named it his favourite of the alternatives and wrote that it seemed to be catching on. [1] PolyamProud's own timeline of July 2022 lists it as one of four flags that mattered, alongside Evans's, Monroe's and Wilvich's. [2] It was not among the four designs put to the 2022 vote, which used newly commissioned work. [2]
Its documentation is unusually complete for a proposal of this kind: a named designer, an exact date, her own statement of intent, her own release of rights, a Wayback capture of the original tweet made three days later, and two independent third-party notices. [4][1][2]
Lineage
- Evolved from
- Polyamorous Pride Flag
A direct redesign of the 1995 Evans flag, keeping its color meanings and replacing its central symbol. It belongs to a line of such reworks that begins with Juliette Rouse's in 1999, not with the criticism of the late 2010s. [3] The 2022 Howell flag is not descended from it: PolyamProud's vote used newly commissioned designs. [2]
Lineage tree
Every record reachable from this one through documented parent and child relationships: 2 records across 2 generations.
- Ancestor
- Polyamorous Pride Flag
- This record
- Polyamorous Pride Flag (2019, Emma Essex)
Colors & Symbolism
Essex kept the 1995 flag's color meanings and changed its symbol and its tones. [1] The infinity heart stands for the infinite capacity for love in polyamorous relationships, the reading it carries generally rather than one she is recorded as stating. [2]
| Colour | Hex | Meaning | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cyan | — | Openness and honesty among partners, carried over from the 1995 flag's blue. [1] | No published palette. Described by Wikimedia Commons and by PolyamProud as cyan. [4][2] |
| Magenta | — | Love and passion, carried over from the 1995 flag's red. [1] | Described as light red by both sources; it reads as magenta in the file. [4][2] |
| Near-black | — | Solidarity with those who must hide their relationships, carried over from the 1995 flag's black. [1] | Described as black; a very dark navy in the file. [4] |
| White | #FFFFFF | — | The disc behind the infinity heart. [4] |
This flag has no official digital palette. Color values shown are approximate.
Essex is recorded stating her intent to keep "the general meaning of the chosen colors" and is not recorded assigning new meanings. The stripe meanings here are the 1995 flag's, which she said she was preserving. [1]
Essex published no hex values. The colors here are as described on the Commons file page and in PolyamProud's timeline, checked against the file itself; neither source gives numbers, and the entry does not invent any. [4][2]
Design
- Aspect Ratio
- 3:5 · standard
- Orientation
- horizontal
- Stripe Count
- 3
- Layout
- horizontal_stripes_with_symbol
- Stripes (Top → Bottom)
- Cyan, Magenta, Near-black
- Center Symbol
- Infinity heart in a white disc
Three horizontal stripes, cyan over magenta over near-black, with a white disc centred on the flag carrying a magenta heart threaded by a cyan infinity loop. The middle stripe is narrower than the other two. [4][2]
Digital vector-style artwork; the Commons file is a PNG of 864 by 529 pixels. [4]
Three horizontal stripes in cyan, magenta and near-black, the middle stripe narrower than the others, with a white disc at the center containing an infinity heart in magenta and cyan. [4]
Usage & Adoption
- First Users
- Online polyamory communities
- Online Usage
- Circulated on Twitter and reproduced on Wikimedia Commons, Cited in PolyamProud's history of polyamory flags
- Current Status
- circulating
Circulated online and endorsed by Alan M., who called it his favourite of the alternatives and said it seemed to be catching on. [1] No documented physical use has been found. [2]
Image Archive
Renderings
Discourse & Debates
- It shares the problem of every individual proposal before the 2022 vote: a design could be admired without being adopted, because no process existed to settle on one. PolyamProud described the cycle in its own words -- someone dislikes the options, makes one, some adopt it and most do not, "and the 'accepted' polyam flag design (often the very first one, created by Jim Evans) remains the same." [2]
Common misidentifications
- Easily confused with other infinity-heart redesigns of the Evans flag, of which there are many; the distinguishing features are the white disc and the narrower middle stripe. [4]
Footnotes & Citations
Sources and footnotes 4 sources
- 1. The polyamory flag is a grim, confusing failure. Let's do better.. Alan M.. Polyamory in the News (2020-07-27 (URL slug dates to 2019-10)). Accessed 2026-07-28
- 2. The History of Polyamory Flags. Dee Morgan. PolyamProud (2022-07-31). Accessed 2026-07-28 · Archived version
- 3. Poly Flag (Poly Artwork). Juliette Rouse. Ecohost Online (site copyright line 1999). Accessed 2026-07-28 · Archived version
- 4. File:Polyflag.png. Emma Essex. Wikimedia Commons (2019-09-27). Accessed 2026-07-28 · Archived version
Image Sources
- Rendering
- Essex 2019 version
- The flag as published by Emma Essex on 27 September 2019 and released by her into the public domain. · Credit: Emma Essex, CC0 · Wikimedia Commons