It turned out I had a lot of feelings about what this should look like. So you’re getting a design. With history! And symbolism!

First, there are two existing lesbian flags that I wanted to pay homage to:

The labrys lesbian flag, designed by Sean Campbell in 2000:

Looking at all the flags that have taken off in the decades since then, it’s clear that stripes are the way to go. Still, the symbolism in this one is excellent, and sets a high bar.

And the lipstick lesbian flag, designed by Natalie McCray in 2010:

You’ve probably seen a version without the lips used as “the lesbian flag”. And let’s be clear, it has a great aesthetic. It just doesn’t translate so well to everyone in the community who isn’t hella femme.

So here’s my Lesbian Pride Flag proposal:

If you want a specific name to distinguish it from its predecessors…call it the lesbian community flag.

And here’s what it means!

Pink stripes:

• Shoutout to the gradient design of the lipstick lesbian flag; represents femme lesbians
• There’s two of them to represent pride in f/f couples
• And to represent the harmony between “liking women” and “being a woman”
• And, because the lighter shade echoes the pink from the trans pride flag, to represent that this includes both cis lesbians & trans lesbians

Pale yellow stripe:

• Echoes the nonbinary and intersex flags, to represent that this includes nonbinary & intersex lesbians
• Echoes the middle stripe in the pan flag, to represent our attraction to nonbinary lesbians
• It’s a sandy, beachy shade of yellow, because Lesbos is an island

Lavender stripe:

• Shoutout to the color of the lesbian labrys flag
• Honoring the reclamation of the “lavender menace” symbolism
• Represents the importance of lesbians being feminists, and lesbian issues being part of feminism

Blue-black stripe:

• This one’s for the butch lesbians
• Echoes the blue & black of the leather pride flag, to represent leatherdykes & kinky lesbians
• It’s at the base of the flag because it’s buff enough to hold all the other stripes up
• I experimented with plain #000 as another shoutout to the labrys flag, but a brighter stripe worked better with all the other colors, which represents how when all different kinds of lesbians band together we look awesome

Also available: labrys/triangle variations! You can click all these flags for stupidly-high-res versions. (Thanks to Pride-Flags for the high-quality labrys.)

So there you have it, the lesbian pride flag, circa 2018. Just in time to celebrate the third anniversary of the US legalization of same-sex marriage. Maybe too late for any of this year’s Pride parades…but there’s always next year.

If you like it, feel free to use it — put it in graphics, print it on a shirt, knit it into hats, whatever — without restriction.