^{This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website}

Aromantic Pride flag

image by Tomislav Todorović, 21 March 2020

Introduction
Flag description
Previous designs

Original proposal
Yellow-striped version

Grey aromanticism
Demiromanticism

See also:

Sexual orientation flags

Introduction

Aromanticism is the state of never experiencing romantic attraction ("falling in love"), i.e. the complete lack thereof. [1,2] Since the lack of romantic attraction, complete or incomplete, is not necessarily tied to the lack of sexual attraction and various combinations of these may exist, the persons may be described, beside their sexual orientation, in regard to their romantic orientation, aromanticism making a category thereof. [1,3]
Tomislav Todorović, 21 March 2020
Sources:
[1] – Aromanticism at LGBTA Wiki: https://lgbta.wikia.org/wiki/Aromantic
[2] – Aromanticism at Asexual Visibility and Education Network wiki: http://wiki.asexuality.org/Aromantic
[3] – Romantic orientation at Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romantic_orientation

Flag description

The flag has five horizontal stripes of dark green, light green, white, gray and black; dark green symbolizes aromanticism, light green, together with the dark one, represents the aromantic spectrum, white stands for platonic and aesthetic attractions, while gray and black represent the sexuality spectrum. [1,4,5] Green was chosen to symbolize the aromanticism as the opposite (i.e. complementary color) of red, the color which is the most commonly associated with the romance. [1] The flag was created by Tumblr user Cameron Whimsy and published on 16 November 2014. [5,6,7] While it is much used online, the examples of its real-life use are still very few, the earliest currently known one being the San Francisco Pride 2017. [8] In Karlsruhe, Germany, the flag image appeared at the Christopher Street Day 2019, shown on a large bilboard together with the description of orientation it represents, as was done with a number of other orientations and their flags. [9] The flag itself was carried at the New York City Pride 2019. [8,10,11] As these examples reveal, as well as some others whose time and place cannot be precisely told, [12] that the shades of green and gray vary somewhat, especially that of light green.
Tomislav Todorović, 21 March 2020
Sources:
[1] – Aromanticism at LGBTA Wiki: https://lgbta.wikia.org/wiki/Aromantic
[4] – Gay Star News website - Pride flags: https://www.gaystarnews.com/article/pride-flags-the-biggest-guide-to-lgbt-rainbow-flags-and-what-they-all-mean/
[5] – Queer Events website - Queer Community Flags: https://www.queerevents.ca/queer-corner/blog/queer-community-flags
[6] – University of Northern Colorado, The Gender & Sexuality Resource Center Pride Flags: https://www.unco.edu/gender-sexuality-resource-center/resources/pride-flags.aspx
[7] – Cameron Whimsy at Tumblr - Flag explanation: https://cameronwhimsy.tumblr.com/post/102698477928/whoops-yeah-i-just-realised-i-never-actually-made
[8] – Asexuality Archive website - Pride flags photos from San Francisco Pride 2017 and New York City Pride 2019: http://www.asexualityarchive.com/pride-flags-in-the-wind/
[9] – Wikimedia Commons - Photo from Christopher Street Day in Karlsruhe on 1 June 2019: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Christopher_Street_Day_in_Karlsruhe,_Spa%C3%9F_mit_Flaggen.jpg
[10] – Photo from New York City Pride 2019 at Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NYC_Pride_2019_74.jpg
[11] – Photo from New York City Pride 2019 at Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NYC_Pride_2019_75.jpg
[12] – Asexual Visibility and Education Network forums - Post sent from Ontario, Canada, on 30 September 2019 at 07:37: https://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/97666-the-new-aromantic-thread-v15/page/61/?tab=comments#comment-1063512754

The flag was used with reversed color order (black at the top) at the Twin Cities Pride in Minneapolis on 23 June 2019. The photo can be viewed here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/52746562@N00/48144214387/. As this is currently the only known example, it is too early to tell whether this is another "no right side up" flag, especially considering that it is still rarely used at all.
Tomislav Todorović, 7 July 2020

Previous designs

Original proposal

image by Tomislav Todorović, 21 March 2020

The original proposal had four stripes of green, yellow, orange and black; green stood for aromanticism, as in later designs; yellow represented friendship (as yellow roses do in the language of flowers); while orange, the color between yellow and red, stood for gray-romantics (people in the "gray zone" between aromanticism and full romanticism) and black represented alloromantics (i.e. fully romantic people) who "reject the traditional ideas of romance." [1,6] The author and creation date of this design are not known, [6] but it seems to have been created before 2014. It is also unknown if it was ever used, except online.
Tomislav Todorović, 21 March 2020
Sources:
[1] – Aromanticism at LGBTA Wiki: https://lgbta.wikia.org/wiki/Aromantic
[6] – University of Northern Colorado, The Gender & Sexuality Resource Center Pride Flags: https://www.unco.edu/gender-sexuality-resource-center/resources/pride-flags.aspx

Yellow-striped version

image by Tomislav Todorović, 21 March 2020

Before the present flag, Cameron Whimsy had created a similar one, with yellow stripe instead of white, and published it on 7 February 2014. [1,6,13] The symbolism was essentially the same, except the yellow color may have been attributed to the lithromanticism (condition of person who may experience romantic attration, but do not want it reciprocated). [13,14] The reason for eventual change of yellow into white was possibility of sensory problems to certain viewers, as well as possible misunderstanding due to color meaning in various cultures. [1,13]
Tomislav Todorović, 21 March 2020
Sources:
[1] – Aromanticism at LGBTA Wiki: https://lgbta.wikia.org/wiki/Aromantic
[6] – University of Northern Colorado, The Gender & Sexuality Resource Center Pride Flags: https://www.unco.edu/gender-sexuality-resource-center/resources/pride-flags.aspx
[13] – Cameron Whimsy at Tumblr - Explanation of original flag design: https://cameronwhimsy.tumblr.com/post/75868343112/ive-been-reading-up-on-a-lot-of-the-discussion
[14] – Lithromanticism at LGBTA Wiki: https://lgbta.wikia.org/wiki/Lithromantic

Gray aromanticism

image by Tomislav Todorović, 22 March 2020

Gray aromanticism, or gray-aromanticism, or gray-romanticism, or grayromanticism (also spelled with "grey") is the spectrum between aromanticism and full romanticism, [1,2] encompassing the conditions when romantic attraction is experienced rarely and/or under specific circumstances. The flag representing these orientations was introduced in 2014 at Tumblr. [3,4] It was created as a modification of the gray asexuality flag by replacing purple color with green (the "aromantic" color). While its online use has spread to a considerable presence, the examples from real life are still very few, the only ones currently known being from the New York City Pride 2019. [5,6,7]
Tomislav Todorović, 22 March 2020
Sources:
[1] – Gray aromanticism at LGBTA Wiki:m https://lgbta.wikia.org/wiki/Greyromantic
[2] – Gray aromanticism at Asexual Visibility and Education Network wiki: http://wiki.asexuality.org/Gray-romantic
[3] – Tumblr - Post by gray-romantic on 20 OCtober 2014: https://grayros.tumblr.com/post/100500473106/aromanticaardvark-lesbiangamora-new
[4] – Queer As Cat blog - Post on 4 August 2017: http://queerascat.com/2017/08/queerascat-pride-flags-queerascat/
[5] – Asexuality Archive website - Pride flags photos from San Francisco Pride 2017 and New York City Pride 2019: http://www.asexualityarchive.com/pride-flags-in-the-wind/
[6] – Photo from New York City Pride 2019 at Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NYC_Pride_2019_74.jpg
[7] – Photo from New York City Pride 2019 at Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NYC_Pride_2019_75.jpg

Demiromanticism

image by Tomislav Todorović, 22 March 2020

Demiromanticism is the condition when romantic attraction can be experienced only after an emotional bond has been formed. [1,2] As such, it is a specific case, or rather a specific subset, of gray (a)romanticism. The flag attributed to it was created by Tumblr user Queer As Cat in 2015. [3,4] It was created as a modification of demisexuality flag by replacing purple color with green (the "aromantic" color). Since its creation, the flag image has achieved a considerable online presence, but the examples of real-life use are still very few, the only ones currently known being those from the New York City Pride 2019. [5,6,7]
Tomislav Todorović, 22 March 2020
Sources:
[1] – Demiromanticism at LGBTA Wiki: https://lgbta.wikia.org/wiki/Demiromantic
[2] – Demiromanticism at Asexual Visibility and Education Network wiki: http://wiki.asexuality.org/Demiromantic
[3] – Queer As Cat at Tumblr - Demiromantic and Gray (a)romantic Flags: https://queerascat.tumblr.com/post/113028340901/demiromantic-and-gray-aromantic-flags-after
[4] – Queer As Cat blog - Post on 4 August 2017: http://queerascat.com/2017/08/queerascat-pride-flags-queerascat/
[5] – Asexuality Archive website - Pride flags photos from San Francisco Pride 2017 and New York City Pride 2019: http://www.asexualityarchive.com/pride-flags-in-the-wind/
[6] – Photo from New York City Pride 2019 at Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NYC_Pride_2019_76.jpg
[7] – Photo from New York City Pride 2019 at Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NYC_Pride_2019_77.jpg