Who is/was "standup"?

[Redbeard]

I'm trying to write up a history of the Asexuality Flag. I found the post where the flag first appeared, but I can't really find any information about who "standup" is. It seems like they appeared, worked really hard to get a flag adopted, then vanished. So, does anyone know who they are, where they are now, what their name is, that sort of thing? Seems a shame that they'd end up fairly anonymous after such a significant contribution.

[Guest]

Moved to Visibility and Education Projects.

Strivna

Asexual Q&A Moderator

[hexaquark]

Unfortunately, I don't know anything that can't be found in standup's posts, so probably no more that you do. Hopefully they are not gone from the community, but we may never know?

There is this post

I've been lurking for a while (maybe a year?), not really active on the community but learning about everything and getting a feel of how AVEN works and what the community is like. The people here seem very friendly and everyone is very close knit. I made an account before, but when the site crashed/reverted it got deleted, and I decided not to make a new one. In general I'm just helpful, and I like being progressive and getting things done. Projects and goals are fun, and one day I just kind of realized asexuality didn't have a flag, and thought it would only be a good thing to make one. I don't know about running for a spot on the PT, but thank you for offering and I'll keep it in mind.

And they came in with a whirlwind of activity (wikipedia work, flag stuff) and then, as you say, stopped posting on AVEN.

If you want more links on the flag in general, I think this thread may have had an influence on the colours of the design standup chose (because standup was originally suggesting grey-scale, but no purple).

The interesting thing about the flag design process is how it was relatively collaborative and it tied together so much asexuality related symbolism. The 'gradient' is easy to understand, but the background on the colour purple is a little convoluted.

Here's what I have on it, just in case anyone is interested:

AVEN is purple, so far as I know, because the site founder, David Jay, chose the colour for the crystal amethyst. Back in August of 2001, Jay posted to Haven For The Human Amoeba, saying he liked black and white, or purple for asexual colours, “Legend had it that if you placed amethyst in a goblet of wine you could drink from it forever and never become drunk. An image well-used in my asexual-angst poetry.” (For context, AVEN was created in March 2001; this was early days for the asexual community).

The legend he mentioned has its roots in Greek myth, and the word amethyst is in fact Greek for “not intoxicated”. The story goes that the sexual advances of Dionysus, the god of wine, were rejected by a nymph named Amethyst. The goddess Artemis helped protect the nymph from harm by turning her into white quartz. Dionysus was regretful and poured wine over the amethyst stone, staining it purple.

Sorry I couldn't be more of a help about standup.