Hey everyone! The members of the NewsTeam have come together to bring you a group article all about the various flags in the LGBT+ community. Some you may have heard of, and some may be brand new to you. We hope this article can educate and entertain you, and who knows, maybe you’ll learn a thing or two! However, if we do happen to have made a mistake, feel free to leave a constructive comment below and we shall correct anything that needs be.

To show our thanks and appreciation, we have some codes for you, designed by the wonderful Alaska!

UNLIMITED

FEMALE:
androgr33n
femininepurpl3
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MALE:
greenexual
purplexual

Special thanks to Krystle for the lovely layout!

Bisexuality can be described as having an attraction to both male and females (or people who identify as either). Bisexuals are often stigmatized by both the gay community and the straight community. Trust me, we are not selfish, it's not just a phase, and I do not want to engage in relations with you and your boyfriend/girlfriend lol. The bisexual flag was designed by Michael Page in 1988 with intent to increase visibility of bisexuals. The 3 colours of the flag are purple, pink and blue. The pink in the flag represents being attracted to members of the same sex only, the blue in the flag represents being attracted to members of the opposite sex only, while the purple in between the other two colours represents sexual attraction to both sexes.

Pansexuality is described as being sexually attracted to someone, regardless of their gender. This includes, but is not limited to, males, females, gender fluid, agender, bigender, and androgynous (read the rest of the article if you are unsure what each of those means)As for the flag, there is no known history of where the flag came from, just that it started appearing on various websites around 2010. The flag has three colours; pink and blue on the outside, and yellow in the middle. The pink represents people who identify on the female spectrum (regardless of biological sex), the blue represents people who identify on the male spectrum (regardless of biological sex), and the yellow in the middle represents non-binary attraction, such as the examples listed above.

Aromantic can be described as not feeling a romantic attraction towards anyone. They can feel other types of love and usually develop strong platonic relationships. They may still feel a sexual attraction to someone, or be asexual as well. There's no “official” Aromantic flag yet, but there have been a few proposed flag designs. The first proposed design, a combination of green, yellow, black and orange stripes, is most commonly used. The newest one, a combination of various greens, white, grey and black, is currently the more preferred flag due to its soft tones.

Autosexuals are someone who enjoys self gratification rather than sex with another person. There are 4 types of Autosexual, but due to the nature of the matter, I won't be discussing it in the article. If you wish to learn more, please check out this link. Unfortunately, I couldn't find anything on the flag itself, other than its design. The design consists of 2 horizontal rectangles, one grey and one blue. In the middle is a red heart with a black arrow wrapped around the heart, suggesting one's love for themselves.

Gynephilia can be described as a sexual attraction to women or femininity. This term is used for identifying one's attraction without labelling their gender or sex, which could help eliminate bias towards certain genders and/or sexes. The origin of the flag is unknown. The flag consists of four horizontal stripes of equal sizes. The four colours are black, grey, white and pink (or purple).

Lipstick lesbians describe lesbians (women who are attracted to women) who generally have more feminine qualities. They are more likely to wear makeup, dresses, and various other things deemed to be feminine by society. While the origins of the flag are hard to find, one person traced it back to a post on the blog “This Lesbian Life” where a woman was concerned about the lack of lesbian flags, and thus created her own. The flag consists of seven horizontal bars, all various shades of pink. In the corner of the flag is a lip print, most likely to symbolize the “lipstick” part of lipstick lesbian.

Bear is a subculture of the gay community and is often a larger, hairier man, typically projecting a 'rugged' masculine image. Like many LGBT+ communities, Bears have their own events, codes and culture-specific identity. The bear concept can function as an identity or an affiliation, though there is an ongoing debate in bear communities about what constitutes a bear. Some bears place importance on presenting a clear masculine image and may disdain or shun men who exhibit effeminacy, while others consider acceptance and inclusiveness of all types to be an important value of the community.
The colours of the flag are meant to include the colours of the furs of animal bears throughout the world, not necessarily referring to skin and hair colour: Dark brown, orange/rust, golden yellow, tan, white, gray, and black. It was designed with inclusion in mind, in 1995 by Craig Byrnes.
Lithromantic is a romantic orientation on the aromantic spectrum, also known as Akoiromantic/Apromantic. Lithromantics feel romantic attraction towards others and enjoy being in romantic relationships - but only in theory. They do not need the affection to be reciprocated and typically do not usually feel compelled to seek out a relationship with their crush. Some may also stop feeling their romantic attraction once in a relationship. Someone who identifies as lithromantic can be: romance repulsed, romance indifferent, or romance positive. Some can become repulsed upon knowing their feelings are requited. Others may find they just need a lot of space to help coping with the requited feelings. Like with any romantic orientation, lithromantics can have any sexual orientation. The Lithromantic flag has two versions, one linked above and the other is linked here. From what it appears, this version may be the current one - if anyone can confirm, please leave a comment below! Sadly, though, no explanations of the flag colours could be found.

A Demiromantic is a type of grey-romantic orientation, who only experiences romantic attraction after developing an emotional connection beforehand. Demiromantics do not experience primary romantic attraction, but they are capable of secondary romantic attraction. Primary attraction is counted as almost like "love at first sight" or love shortly after speaking to someone. Secondary is after knowing a person very well, having formed a strong emotional bond and friendship. Demiromantic people may also prefix a gender orientation to the label, as in "Demi-heteroromantic. " 
The sexual counterpart of Demiromantic is a Demisexual - a person who does not experience sexual attraction unless they form a strong emotional connection with someone..The Demiromantic flag is a little ambiguous as there is the purple version, linked above, and a version where the purple is replaced for green. There is a thought that the purple is demisexual and the green version is demiromantic, but this is neither confirmed nor denied.
This has been suggested as what the colours can identify: 'The meaning of the colors is unknown, though it appears to be based on the Asexual Pride Flag. The thick white stripe might symbolize sexuality, agender, intersexuality, transitioning, genderlessness, or being outside the straight-gay and male-female binaries. The thin purple stripe might represent female and male relationships, and the gray stripe might stand for asexuality. Black triangle might stand for romantics who reject traditional romance, asexuality, agender or genderlessness'.

A Skoliosexual is an individual who is romantically and/or sexually attracted to non-binary identified people. Another way of explaining Skoliosexual is that they are not attracted to cis individuals but other gender expressions instead. It includes anyone who does not identify as cisgender: genderqueer, genderfluid, transgender, intersexual - for example. For some, it is simply a preference. For others, particularly trans people, they may have had trauma in relationships with cis people previously and so prefer to date non-binary people.
Some use the term cautiously as it is believed to be a recently created term with little history. It should be noted that some non-binary and genderqueer individuals may against being viewed in this manner while others may be fine with the sexuality. The flag is yellow, green, black and yellow, featuring a pink heart in the middle. No colour explanation could be found.

Androphilia
Androphilia describes the sexual attraction to men or masculinity. It is the opposite to the term Gynephilia. The terms are objectively used for identifying a person's attraction without attributing a sex assignment or gender identity to the person. This can avoid bias associated in normative ideas of human sexuality, avoid confusion and offense when describing people in non-western cultures, as well as when describing intersex and transgender people, especially those who are non-binary or, otherwise, falling outside the gender binary. 
In his book 'Androphilia, A Manifesto: Rejecting the Gay Identity, Reclaiming Masculinity', Jack Malebranche uses the term to emphasise masculinity in both object and subject of male homosexual desire and to reject the sexual nonconformity that he sees in some parts of the homosexual identity. The Androphilia flag is black, grey, white and green. 

Neutrois
Neutrois is a non-binary gender identity, often associated with a "neutral" or "null" gender. It may also be associated with genderlessness, and shares many similarities with agender - people who consider themselves neutrally gendered or genderless, but some may identify as both, while others may prefer one term or the other. Neutrois people may experience dysphoria and wish to transition. Often, they prefer their gender expression to be gender neutral or androgynous, though can vary person to person. Some wish to medically transition to remove all sex characteristics, but others only wish to remove specific characteristics or do not desire surgery at all. Neutrois people may be of any sex and have any sexuality. 
For those confused between being Agender and being Neutrois, a good analogy is written here: "Agender is having no gender where as Neutrois is having a gender that's neutral. I like to think of it like a lightbulb. The lightbulb is the gender and so when the lightbulb is on it could be a gender that's feminine or masculine or inbetween. Neutrois is like a lightbulb that's turned off where as Agender would be like if the lightbulb wasn't there." 
In the neutrois flag, white is for neutral, unidentified, or questioning gender. Dark chartreuse green (the inverse of lavender, the mix of pink and blue) is for nonbinary gender that isn't female or male. Black is for agender or genderless. 

INTERSEXUAL - STRAIGHT ALLY - POLYSEXUAL - GENDER BINARY - HERMAPHRODITE - GENDER NON-BINARY - GREYROMANTIC

Intersexual Flag
Intersexual people are characterized as people who have a mix of characteristics. The components can fall under a sexual, physical, strictly genetic or a combination of all of them. This would classify them as both a male and a female. Intersex people can display the characteristics from outside, but may not know on the inside for many years. It would not be until later on in life when they are observing their bodies that they would only realize that they have externals signs later in life. For example, this may include a person may be born appearing female on the outside but has a male reproductive system and body parts. Please note, that intersex anatomy doesn’t always show up at birth, and it may develop with puberty. There were two versions of the flag, the older one, focused more on soft pink tones. However, it was more described as a flag that was geared towards the female community. In 2013, the Organisation Intersex International Australia decided to take things into their own hands and created a new flag that was gender neutral. The new flag consists of a yellow background and has a simple purple circle in the middle.

Straight Ally Flag
Straight Ally can also be called a heterosexual, and or cisgendered (a person whose gender corresponds to their assigned sex) who supports all rights. This consists of a person’s equal civil rights, gender equality, and LGBTQ social movements. A straight ally person of the community also challenges homophobia, biphobia, as well as, transphobia. Although, if you feel that this may seem like you. It does not mean that you identify as a straight ally. There are many who do not identify themselves as a straight ally but are all for equal rights for all. A straight ally believes that LGBTQ faces a large portion of discrimination, and are at a social and economic disadvantage during their life. They aim to use their power and position in the world to fight homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia. The flag consists of the black-white colour that is used in the heterosexual flag and has a large rainbow A in the center that stands for Ally.

Polysexual Flag
A polysexual can be described as the attraction to multiple genders. A polysexual person is one that encompasses or is characterized by many different kinds of sexuality (it encompasses many, but not all of the sexuality. This is what differs it from pansexuality). A polysexual identity is related to one’s gender identity and is used by some who may identify on the outside of the binarist gender spectrum. An example of this may be, a polysexual may find themselves attracted to men, women, and bigendered people and find themselves completely unattracted to other non-binary gender identities. The flag is divided into three sections, the first being pink. The pink (top) represents the attraction to females. The blue (bottom) represents the attraction to males. And the green (middle) is the representation of the attraction to non-binary gender identities.

Gender Binary Flag
Gender Binary can also be described as gender binarism, or sometimes even binarism. It is the classification of sex and gender into two distinct, and opposite disconnected forms of masculine and feminine. It is one of the core principles that are genderism, and it describes a social boundary that discourages people from crossing or mixing gender roles. Gender roles are a major aspect of the gender binary, as they shape and constrain an individual’s life experiences, impacting aspects of self-expression ranging from occupation to the clothes that you wear.

Hermaphrodite Flag
A hermaphrodite is a person that has both reproductive organs that are normally associated with both male and female sexes. In prior times, it was used to describe someone who’s characteristics do not neatly fit male or female classifications, but the term has now been replaced with the term of intersex. The flag is made up of different stripes in shades of orange, yellow and green. The yellow represents neutrality in gender, rather than having blue or pink to represent masculinity and femininity. The flag also has the female symbol and Mar’s shield, combined with Venus’s hand mirror. The male symbol is joined in the center. Venus and Mars's symbols represent the unity of female and male characteristics and genitalia, with purple symbolizing the mixture of pink and blue as feminine and male colors.

Gender Non-Binary Flag
Gender Non-Binary's flag consists of four stripes coloured (from top to bottom) yellow, white, purple and black. Yellow represents those who gender exists outside and without reference to the binary as yellow is often used to distinguish something as its own. White represents those who have many or all genders as white is the photological presence of colour and/or light. The purple stripe represents those who feel their gender is between or a mix of female and male as purple is the mix of the traditional boy and girl colours. The final black stripe is to represent those who feel they are without gender as black is the photological absence of color and light.

Greyromantic Flag
Greyromantic is described as an umbrella term that is used for lithromantics and demiromantics. It is also a person who may vary between romantic attraction and lack any romantic attraction. Greyromantic’ is also the romantic orientation that is between aromantic (no romantic attraction) and romantic.

TRANSGENDER - TRANSSEXUAL - ANDROGYNOUS - ASEXUAL - GENDERQUEER

Transgender
To better understand the meaning behind the flag, we must understand the term transgender and what it means to be transgender.
Transgender means that they are individuals who have a gender identity/expression that differs from their assigned sex. It also can encompass people who have undergone sex reassignment surgery and also those who haven’t undergone those procedures. Transgender can also be considered an umbrella term because it also covers a broad set of genders like transsexuals, genderqueers, etc. However, many people may prefer not to be associated with or called a transgender and instead prefer to be called a different pronoun or term. For example, many transsexuals may prefer to be called a transsexual and reject the term transgender. This goes vice versa and is a matter of preference. The flag was created by Monica Helms in 1999. It was first shown at a pride parade in Phoenix, Arizona, USA in 2000. The flag is supposed to represent the transgender community (meaning the genders it's also associated with). Helms describes why she made the flag in the follow quote,
“The stripes at the top and bottom are light blue, the traditional color for baby boys. The stripes next to them are pink, the traditional color for baby girls. The stripe in the middle is white, for those who are intersex, transitioning or consider themselves having a neutral or undefined gender. The pattern is such that no matter which way you fly it, it is always correct, signifying us finding correctness in our lives. ”

Transsexual
Before getting into the flag meaning, let us understand this term and what it means to be a transsexual. Transsexual, in its term usage, is under the umbrella term transgender. However, as stated before under the transgender explanation, many may not associate themselves with the term transgender and may prefer to be called transsexual.
Transsexuals are people who experience a gender identity that is inconsistent with, or not culturally associated with, their assigned sex. They, therefore may, seek therapies/treatments/surgeries such as sex reassignment surgery, hormone replacement therapy, and other sex reassignment therapies.
Now, onto the flag meaning. The flag meaning was not able to be found as it could possibly be for the fact that since transgender is considered an umbrella term and it also includes transsexuals, it may be that the transgender flag was altered in order to fit this community. Therefore the transgender flag meaning may be similar to this flag meaning.

Androgynous
Before getting into the flag meanings, let us explore what the term means and what it means to be androgynous.
Those who are androgynous are people who may express characteristics that are neither specifically feminine nor masculine. It’s an ambiguous sexual identity. They may identify as non-gender, gender-neutral, agender, genderqueer, non-binary, pangender, genderfluid, and etc.
Now onto the flag meaning. The gray part of the flag represents the gray area between genders. The equal sign represents the equality between men and women.

Asexual
An asexual person is someone who does not experience sexual attraction but still feel romantic attraction. Aces can be any sex or gender or age or ethnic background or body type, can be rich or poor, can wear any clothing style, and can be any religion or political affiliation. Those who do identify as asexual also go by the term ace for short.
The story behind this flag is that before, the common symbol used by the asexual community was the AVEN triangle which also had a half filled heart which made many aces uncomfortable. Due to this, many asexual sites in 2010 decided to hold a contest for a design of their flag. The person who won was called standup. Black stands for asexuality. Grey stands for Grey-Asexuality and Demisexuality. White stands for non-asexual partners and allies. Purple represents community.

Genderqueer
Genderqueer is an identity commonly used by people who do not identify or express their gender within the gender binary. They may identify as neither male nor female, may see themselves as outside of or in between the binary gender boxes, or may simply feel restricted by gender labels. Not everyone who identifies as genderqueer identifies as trans or nonbinary.
The lavender on the flag is a mixture of blue and pink and represents genderqueer people who identify as both male and female. The white stripe represents genderqueer people who fall outside of the female-male binary. Dark green represents the inverse of lavender for those who do not identify as female nor male.