Asexual Flag Thread

[Ozian13]

My vote is for the one with the four bars and the circle in the middle :)

[asexual cake]

[discussion]

Actually, whenever I see an "A" on the acronym, it doesn't stand for asexual. It stands for "Ally". But that could perhaps be because, as a member of a gay/straight alliance, I usually see it used on GSA events for my college, other colleges, or the Bridge Alliance (Which is like non-student, grownup GSA)

Oh, true. I'm not really a member of any local groups, so when I see the whole drawn-out initialism (which is mostly online in queer-oriented communities), a lot of the time it's used to signify asexuality. Although I have seen versions where there are two A's (as well as two P's and two Q's, as well as all the other letters).

[trisarahtops]

I still like the 4 bar idea...

the black right could be hard to replicate (for diy folks :P ), but I still like it.

[Sciatrix]

What an awful comparison. Sorry, but the Stars and Bars isn't in itself a symbol of oppression and racism. While I think it's unnecessary for some local person carrying a truck to display one, in the South, I imagine it's seen as part of their heritage. The Civil War was not fought to end oppression, and ending slavery was added only as an afterthought.

I'm well aware of the history of the Civil War. Things are symbolic because of the meaning people give to them. There's also the fact that battle flag was also adopted by groups such as the KKK, and nowadays just tends to be brandished by people who are more... conservative in their points of view, in more ways than one. Ask any black person in the Deep South of their feelings on that flag; even if they recognize its historical significance they'll probably tell you it makes them feel at least uneasy.

Hell, ask a white person who has observable markers of anything that's not the conservative "norm." It definitely makes me feel very uneasy to see, because in my experience thinking that having the Confederate Flag on your car is a good idea means you're probably not all that likely to be friendly to queer or ace people, either. (I have also seen them on pickup trucks in Kansas City, incidentally--they are not always only present in the Deep South.)

And I challenge the idea that ending slavery was only an "afterthought" of the Civil War. Abolitionist groups working against slavery certainly heightened the tensions between the slaveholding South and the non-slave-holding North, and Northern states sheltering escaped slaves rather than returning them to their masters further heightened those tensions. Look at the entire point of the Missouri Compromise and Bleeding Kansas! States' rights may have been the calling ground, but the particular states' right which Confederate states feared to lose was the right to determine the legality of slavery. I'm not saying that equality was an issue--far from it, most white Northerners at the time were racists who wanted to ship the ex-slaves back to Africa, see also Liberia here--but slavery was certainly an issue which was central to the problem of the Civil War.

I feel extremely strongly about this. I do not want any flag of asexuality to have strong visual similarities with the Confederate Flag. If the discussion comes down to a choice between a flag which looks like the Confederate Flag and no flag at all, I will strenuously champion the noncreation of a flag of asexuality.

[Wineblood]

Just to check then, there's a noticeable dislike for

-diagonal crosses

-vertical/horizontal crosses

-emblems on the flag

Should make it easier to pick one then, right?

[TheChronicWanderer]

I rather like #1 on the 'added in this thread'. Looks like a flag of alternate sexuality (or related) people, isn't too complicated and so on.

By comparison, which do you like better, that one or this one?

I really like this one. It looks good, but it's simple.

If we can actually agree with each other, then we will make history.

[standup]

Righto! If you guys aren't against it, I could open polling as soon as tonight or tomorrow morning. I'm not sure how long I should wait for people to submit ideas. We already have quite a few!

[Sir Oliver]

Okay dudes so like

Picture this

My suggestion is that we have a stylized black fist, punching a hole in a tank.

It makes perfect sense, okay, hear me out

The gays get a lot of guff, right? It's because of their rainbow flag. But like, people get one look at our flag? And their only thoughts will be "Oh fuck."

They'll know not to fuck with us, dudes! Back me up here my fellow chatsters

They loved this in chat

Approved.

Also, I think we should do, like, a week to enter flags and then do voting and shit.

[bristrek]

Voting tonight, good idea. Though it may be an idea to do a run off if there's no clear winner.

[Typical Power]

I feel like we should avoid horizontal bars.

It's very LGBT... and many asexuals do not want Asexuals to be part of the LGBT.

I like the bars, and precisely for this reason. Regardless of prevailing opinion regarding whether asexuality should be included in LGBTQetc., it does make some modicum of sense to link some of our symbols since we are an "alternative" sexual identity. Like, that wikimedia page has the flags for polyamory and BDSM, neither of which are "officially" a part of LGBT, but both of which are deviations from the "default" sexual identity being a monogamous hetero one.

...I'm not sure I'm making sense.

The longest version of the acronym I have ever seen was on an invite to a "rainbow ball" ("gay prom" for college students, held in my area yearly, as part of a weekend long gathering with bunches of other activities) It was "LGBTQQIA". It caused a lot of discussion at my school, because they didn't state what the new/extra letters stand for. Example: "What the hell is an 'I'?" (Intersexed) "Why does it have two Q's?" (Questioning), etc

If you really wanted to, you could make it LGBTQAIPQP (or some variation thereof), for Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer Asexual Intersex Pansexual Questioing Polyamorous, but I've taken to using LGBTQetc. because it includes all of the minorities-within-the-minority in two ways, both as "queer" and as "etc.," for anything that possibly could have been left out. I also like the way it looks.

Actually, whenever I see an "A" on the acronym, it doesn't stand for asexual. It stands for "Ally". But that could perhaps be because, as a member of a gay/straight alliance, I usually see it used on GSA events for my college, other colleges, or the Bridge Alliance (Which is like non-student, grownup GSA)

Asexuality is not officially part of the LGBT in any way.

The A is for Ally.

[standup]

Yeah, LGBTQA is for Ally, sadly.

I would wait to do voting, but honestly, I don't know how many more ways you can make a striped flag and have it be different. Tomorrow morning I'll make a poll for "best striped flag, part 1," "best striped flag, part 2," and "best flag with a symbol." Then once there's been enough time for everyone to vote I'll open a finalist round. Sound good?

[bristrek]

Yeah, LGBTQA is for Ally, sadly.

I would wait to do voting, but honestly, I don't know how many more ways you can make a striped flag and have it be different. Tomorrow morning I'll make a poll for "best striped flag, part 1," "best striped flag, part 2," and "best flag with a symbol." Then once there's been enough time for everyone to vote I'll open a finalist round. Sound good?

Yup!

It'd be nice if we had results done in time for London Pride and take the newly voted flag out to the public but won't happen. BTW, have any official people on here been notified of this cause they may want to know *g*

[Fish That Swims]

oh no! I haven't submitted a design! I was thinking maybe a pennant? The triangle is a popular motif, but I agree with others about it looking too...feminine. But maybe the flag itself could be triangle shaped. Or will that look too "Go Team!" ?

[Sir Oliver]

oh no! I haven't submitted a design! I was thinking maybe a pennant? The triangle is a popular motif, but I agree with others about it looking too...feminine. But maybe the flag itself could be triangle shaped. Or will that look too "Go Team!" ?

Someone else had that idea. XD That'd be too hard for normal people to make, I think. Still... Bitchin' idea is bitchin'.

[bristrek]

Triangle flags are..... well, usually not so much 'Go Team!' but.... I don't know about others but in my head they're college football teams and high school sports teams (and I grew up in the UK) but that sorta thing as opposed to something significant. There's only one nation flag that isn't a rectangle, and basically a pair of triangles and that's the flag for Nepal. That however is a personal take on it and opinion varies widely on it, and as some may tell from this thread (and this is me holding back some of the time) I can be a bit finicky when it comes to certain design things.

And in any case, if we ever want to get our flag made, or to draw it or represent it a colouring over something else and so on so forth it's easier and cheaper (in case of actual fabric flags) to do when a somewhat more normal shape.

That's just my opinion though. Others may disagree.

[Sciatrix]

Like pennants, bristreak? That's my association with triangle-shaped flags, also. I wouldn't necessarily be averse to the idea of the triangle on the flag, but would rather not have a triangle-shaped flag.

Hey, maybe something like this might work?

[Wineblood]

Like pennants, bristreak? That's my association with triangle-shaped flags, also. I wouldn't necessarily be averse to the idea of the triangle on the flag, but would rather not have a triangle-shaped flag.

Hey, maybe something like this might work?

I find that the triangle draws attention away from the bars, I prefer it without the symbol.

[standup]

I like the triangle symbol, I really do, but others have said before that gradients are hard for flag makers to create (unsure if this is true) and we might have to keep that in mind. But imo it looks nice there. :)

Also, whenever I think of triangular flags I automatically thing of colleges. My guidance office had them all over the walls. :/

[you*hear*but*do*you*listen]

I think we should start a poll thread in which all the candidates for flagdom are posted and then we can vote on a flag. We have so many choices, though, maybe we should first narrow it down to the top 5 and then vote again.

[Dylan-Michael]

I really like the bars, particularly the one Mihai posted!

Just for reference, Wikipedia has a list of LGBT symbols, just in case people don't know what they tend to look like and/or like some inspiration. Man I reference that site too much

Um thanks, I like it too, but it actually belongs to Estonia, I don't think the Estonians would like us to use their flag.

[Fish That Swims]

Sloppily rendered, but you get the idea:

[Dylan-Michael]

I like the Scandinavian-esque style.

[dora]

Sloppily rendered, but you get the idea:

I actually like this one quite a lot, but...maybe fewer bars to make it simpler?

Three bars on each side would be more than enough.

[Dylan-Michael]

Sloppily rendered, but you get the idea:

I think that one is a little too busy.

I like the simpler ones better.

[Fish That Swims]

or

?

[bristrek]

or

?

First one, for sure.

[asexual cake]

or

?

First one, for sure.

Agreed.

[Wineblood]

or

?

First of all, because it's a white triangle on a white background (the middle section of the triangle), we can't actually the bottom point of it and it irritates my brain. The flag without the triangle looks better, but the black-white-grey I have a problem with. The asexuality triangle goes black-grey-white.

(Yes I'm focusing on the negative points, but that's what my brain does.)

[standup]

I think we should start a poll thread in which all the candidates for flagdom are posted and then we can vote on a flag. We have so many choices, though, maybe we should first narrow it down to the top 5 and then vote again.

I was thinking of splitting them up into sections with thumbnails of each flag in the post below the poll, labeled with letters from the alphabet or something. I suppose the number of sections/categories will be determined by how many more submissions we get.

[+Lee]

I think we should start a poll thread in which all the candidates for flagdom are posted and then we can vote on a flag. We have so many choices, though, maybe we should first narrow it down to the top 5 and then vote again.

I was thinking of splitting them up into sections with thumbnails of each flag in the post below the poll, labeled with letters from the alphabet or something. I suppose the number of sections/categories will be determined by how many more submissions we get.

Just to ask, did you stop adding the new flags to the first post because there are so many?

That sounds like a good idea for a poll.