#queer pride – @aph-japan on Tumblr

After previous discourse on this blog about this flag and a brief discussion on Instagram earlier tonight, I realized that it is necessary to spread some real information about the origin of this queer pride flag.

There is a misconception being spread that the 9 stripe queer pride flag pictured above is actually a "MAP pride flag" and that is simply not a fact. I believe that the reason for this misconception being spread is the serious rise in queerphobia and queer exclusionism that I've personally witnessed within the past two years.

I believe that spreading these lies is an intentional attempt to rob the queer community of one of our symbols of pride and unity. I believe that this is also a recycling of a classic homophobic tatic: the religious right has long pushed the narrative that queer people are predators, and attempting to paint the queer pride flag as a "MAP" flag is more of the same hatred and propaganda--sadly coming from within our own communities.

Now, onto the description of the image presentation:

1) Black text on a white square background that says "The earliest known appearance of this queer pride flag online is from 2015." To the right of the text is a 9 stripe queer pride flag.

2) "This 9 stripe pride flag was created by deviantart user pastelmemer (pastelroswell on tumblr). The first known version looked like this:" Below is a photo of an early version of the 9 stripe queer pride flag with vertical stripes and a letter Q in black in the center.

3) "It appears that a version with horizontal stripes and without the letter Q in the center was created around the same time. The version with horizontal stripes gained popularity." An image of the flag is to the right.

4) "The colors were chosen to represent different identities within the queer community. The pinks and blues near each other represent same gender attraction, orange and green represents nonbinary people, and black and white represents aromantic, asexual, and agender people."

5) "Some people within the queer community found the use of pink and blue to represent same gender relationships problematic and exclusionary of multisexual and non same gender attracted queer people. So tumblr user ask-pride-color-schemes created alternative versions, replacing one blue and one pink stripe with lavender stripes, the same shade of lavender as in the genderqueer pride flag."

6) Images of the edited queer pride flags, with lavender stripes. "Credit ask-pride-color-schemes."

7) "PastelRoswell/pastelmemer sells merch using this modified flag with lavender stripes in kits redbubble shop! Support queer content creators! Support queer small business owners!" Image: a screenshot of pastelmemers redbubble shop, showing merch with the queer flag.

8) "Whichever version of the queer pride flag you prefer, support and respect queer artists! Learn the history of our pride flags! Reject the erasure of queer history! Reject exclusionism and gatekeeping. Nonbinary, asexual, and aromantic people are a part of our queer communities!"

#genderqueerpositivity #lgbtqiapn #lgbtqiapn informative #lgbtqiapn psa #queer community #queer pride #queer #queer pride flags #pride flags #queer history #2015 #*DO NOT RB TO DISCOURSETM OR I BLOCK #*Reblogging for Archival #misinformation campaigns #exclusionist rhetoric #(in the case of denying even this flag existing *by 2015*)#(I am ONLY)#*Reblogging to Inform #(This is a much older post from 2020 so I'm not aware if the person mentioned is still actively selling but it looks like they are)#(I personally prefer using other Queer flags in my edits but if youve seen me rb posts including this one)#(This is the relevant history)#(Some edits will work well only with such flag designs like this kind of stripes style)#(i.e the Queer chevron flag design doesnt work with all edit possibilities either & often the chevron symbol itself is accidentally hidden)#(So I prefer to not use it and instead alternate between this and Genderqueer flag with Green Lavender & White for Queer flag edits)#(And also because im legit SICK of mainly Straight IDng people in Advs standom trying to convince me even this flag didnt exist by 2015)