Why The Vincian/Gay Flag Isn't Problematic Or Bad To Use
I've seen a lot of hate going around on Twitter and various other social media sites about how the vincian/gay flag (made by @gayflagtwit on Twitter) is problematic because of its creator. I'm here to debunk as many of these claims as I can and defend the useage of this flag.For context, I am a gay trans man who uses the aforementioned flag. This carrd is also meant to be viewed on mobile!
"The gay flag copied the lesbian flag!"
People have claimed that the gay/vincian flag has copied the lesbian flag because of the amount of stripes and similar gradients. The gay flag that inspired the vincian flag was inspired by lipstick lesbian flag. The old gay flag was made before the sunset lesbian flag.ALL widely used lesbian flags were inspired by the gay bear flag. As a gay man, I have absolutely no problem with this personally. I believe flags SHOULD be inspired by each other when used in solidarity, and when they are representing identities that are opposites.
[CHART MADE BY @UWUMARS!]
The above image is a chart of the gay and lesbian pride flag progressions over time. The hypocrisy I've seen specifically with this point/debate is very upsetting as the current lesbian flag was inspired by a gay flag made years ago, but people rarely bring this up from what I've seen online.
"The gay flag is the lesbian flag but hue shifted!"
A lot of VERY misinformed people claim that the vincian flag is copied or a hue shift of the lesbian flag. Let's look at what an actual hue shift of the lesbian flag is.
As you can see, the actual hue shift is different from the gay/vincian flag that we use. It's impossible to get the exact colors of the gay flag, but you are able to get close as hue shifting the colors of the lesbian flag will always result in shades of purple and blue. That's just how colors work.
"The gay flag was created by a lesbiphobe/racist/transmedicalist!"
I unfortunately see this point online a lot, with people who claim this rarely citing any evidence of the creator of the current gay flag (@gayflagtwit) being "lesbiphobic", "racist", or a "transmedicalist". The "evidence" that I've seen circulating around has been debunked by @gayflagtwit himself. These claims seem to stem from people thinking that someone else created the gay man flag, not the actual creator. (@gayflagtwit)
Most of these images are self-explanatory. As for the creator being racist, another carrd defending the gay flag was created by a Tumblr user called @m3g4l4d0n-fr3nzy, who said some anti-black things, and it led many to believe this user had created the flag itself.
Basically people have been spreading lies regarding the creator without any evidence and everyone is believing them. Gayflagtwit has been called slurs, misgendered, and sent death threats over these false claims which is absolutely disgusting.
"The new gay flag is lesbiphobic because it's inspired by the old gay flag!"
It's been mentioned by @gayflagtwit that the current gay flag was inspired by the flag that mod Hermy from Tumblr blog @ask-pride-color-schemes made, and that's very obvious just by looking at the flags. Let me remind you, the lesbian flag that is currently widely used, the sunset lesbian flag, is inspired by the lipstick lesbian flag, whos creator is transphobic. Why is it okay for lesbians to be inspired by a previous problematic flag but not gay men? This point, in my opinion, is very hypocritical.
"Lesbiphobes use this flag!"
This point is very hard to talk about, as I am not a lesbian. My only experience with being a lesbian was before I knew I was trans and identified as a lesbian. I will not speak on lesbian problems because I'm not a lesbian anymore. Please consult lesbians on lesbian topics.It's very hard to control who uses images on the internet. Lesbiphobes and other disgusting people do use the current gay flag, I can't deny that. But these people do not represent the gay man community as a whole. Other horrible people use LGBT+ flags and we don't disown those flags because they do. The community fights to keep their flag. I understand why lesbians are upset that lesbiphobes use the gay flag, but those few lesbiphobes using the flag absolutely does not represent the whole gay community. Generalizing a whole group of people based on a few bad people is not a good idea in any situation.
Discussing the old gay flag that COULD be considered problematic
!! I'm going to stay completely neutral on m-spec gays/lesbians considering this is an informational carrd !!The flag pictured may be problematic to some, but is debateable. It is very similar to @gayflagtwit's flag and may be difficult to differentiate, but once you look into it you can see the differences.This flag was suggested by an anonymous user on Tumblr to a blog named @ask-pride-color-schemes, and the flag itself was made by a mod on the account, mod Hermy. The blog itself and mod Hermy have been proven to support m-spec gays/lesbians, which some people could view as problematic.This specific flag used to have no official stripe meanings, but this has been recently changed. The 4th stripe now means "Ace/arospec gays and split-attraction gays". If they never gave the stripes meanings it wouldn't matter as much.Mod Hermy and the crew at @ask-pride-color-schemes does not make money off of the creation of this flag. If you see someone using this flag, either they may support m-spec gays/lesbians, or simply do not know the flag's meaning(s), or don't know that a newer flag has been created. Reguardless, I do not condone the unjust harassment of anyone who uses this older flag.
Extras
This card created by @mewtnute on Tumblr perfectly sums up a lot of the discourse and explains some things I didn't get to talk about! It may be hard to read on here so I will provide a link to the post as well.
I also found this VERY helpful spreadsheet explaining (with sources) all the controversies with the vincian flag, as well as the other gay flags. The person who made this wishes to remain anonymous.
Closing Thoughts
This topic has been very stressful to talk about, but I hope I've educated at least some people on how the NWLNW/vincian/ocean gay flag isn't problematic. Yes, it has had a problematic history but so have other flags (including the lesbian flag) which I personally never see talked about anywhere. I hope that if you still believe this flag is bad that you do your own research and take time to reflect.Remember that gay men have had a lot taken from them; the original gay flag that now represents the whole LGBTQ+ community, and even the word "gay". It's beyond upsetting that people still are mad when we make our own, unproblematic flag.Anyways, I hope you've learned at least a little bit and I hope you have a good day/night! :)