the lesbian flag for everyone

[alexseanchai]

the lesbian flag for everyone, designed by lydiandragon, as revised by Maya Kern

four equal horizontal stripes: from the top,

violet #663399 for sapphic love

rose pink #FF6699 for fragility

crocus yellow #FFCC33 for strength

dill green #66CC33 for healing

inspired by a poem by Sappho (as translated by Mary Barnard)

specifically designed as an alternative to the pink flag, which was designed by someone who is flagrantly racist, biphobic, and transphobic

happy pride!

Comments

[sylvaine]

*endlessly wishes the creator had gone for "vulnerability" rather than "fragility"*

On a practical note, I also really love this flag because it's high contrast and clear. And that's one thing that aaaaaaalways fucking annoyed me about the other one - it relies so much on low contrast different shades of the same colour! That's a terrible design for a flag! You want something that's immediately recognizable even if the shades are slightly off!

Also, I like this one more because why is lesbian associated with all-pink, p l e a s e

What I'm saying I guess is I love this flag, I hope it'll become the new default, and I am so happy to see it gain more traction lately

[alexseanchai]

The pink one is also horrible for creators of Pride merch, because apparently there is no brand of anything that makes seven distinct pinks.

[sylvaine]

That is EXACTLY what I mean with distinct fucking colours, goddamnit (part of it anyway) and I'm so pleased to see that confirmed because it means this flag will probably be more popular :D

[alexseanchai]

yes uh

about that

...

some people are just assholes

[sylvaine]

*eyeroll* they suuuure fucking are

[capri0mni]

The poem by Sapho herself which inspired the colors of this flag is part of the linked Medium article. But in case people don't want to click through, or that post goes down for whatever reason, I thought it would be a good idea to post the poem here:

I have not had one word from her

Frankly I wish I were dead

When she left, she wept
a great deal; she said to me,
“This parting must be
endured, Sappho. I go unwillingly.”

I said, “Go, and be happy
but remember (you know
well) whom you leave shackled by love

“If you forget me, think
of our gifts to Aphrodite
and all the loveliness that we shared

“all the violet tiaras,
braided rosebuds, dill and
crocus twined around your young neck

“myrrh poured on your head
and on soft mats girls with
all that they most wished for beside them

“while no voices chanted
choruses without ours,
no woodlot bloomed in spring without song…”

—Sappho, translated by Mary Barnard

I'm not lesbian, but I am a poet. And I'm in favor of any flag that celebrates poesy (as well as posies).

[foreverdawning]

It's actually not the sapphic flag. This flag was designed to be the new lesbian flag.
This is what the sapphic flag actually looks like https://66.media.tumblr.com/avatar_926c0c82e4db_128.pnj (and I actually know the person who created the sapphic one, he's really nice.

[capri0mni]

I thought "Saphic" and "Lesbian" were synonyms?

Because Sapho (the woman who wrote the poem above, around the 7th century BCE) was famous for writing about her love of women, and she came from the island of Lesbos.

Both words are ways modern people can say: "I'm with her" ;-)

♦

[foreverdawning]

Sapphic is synonymous with wlw including lesbians but not limited to them (ie bi women, pan women, ect)

Re: ♦

[capri0mni]

Okie-doke.

Re: ♦

[foreverdawning]

On an unrelated note, a lot of people liked the disability lgbt flag, but some people thought it was too hard on their eyes.

Overall your flag was lovely. I sure liked it.

Re: ♦

[capri0mni]

*Nod*

Of course, an image on the computer screen is often harsher than something that exists in the physical world, in natural light. If you're using the flag for something online, lowering the saturation of all the colors (and changing the black to a dark grey) would probably be a good idea. But if you're making a flag to wave at a meat-space parade, keeping the colors bright and "clean" would be best for visibility (Besides, even the brightest paints or fabrics in the physical world are dull compared to colors as they appear on a monitor ... Unless it's a pigment invented by Stewart Semple ;-))

Which version did you share? the one with a green center stripe, and a purple top stripe, or my revised version with a white center stripe and a green top one?

(I decided to ditch the purple, because it was too hard to reproduce consistently, and purple is a non-standard flag color -- mostly for that exact reason)

Re: ♦

[foreverdawning]

Yes it is the green center stripe.

Re: ♦

[capri0mni]

Okay. Just so you know, though: the design that I officially put into the public domain (on 4 June, 2019) is the one in my icon, with the white center stripe.

Re: ♦

[foreverdawning]

I’ll make a new post! <3

Re: ♦

[capri0mni]

^_^ <3

Here's the announcement post I made in my own journal. It includes a link to the official legal notice, and the file I registered, which is on Flickr.

Re: ♦

[alexseanchai]

Ah, and here was me thinking it's the sapphic flag because it's explicitly inspired by the works of Sappho! Oops. Thanks for the correction.