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Transsexual flag

Last modified: 2024-01-13 by randy young
Keywords: hermaphrodite sign | stripes: 7 | transsexual |
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[Transsexual flag] [Transsexual flag]
images by António Martins and Tomislav Todorović, 30 May 2023

See also:

Description and origin of the flag

Transsexuals are folks who, through hormones and surgery, have changed their sex.
Al Kirsch, 3 February 2001

A person who has had medical operation(s) to become the other gender. Also, anyone who is going to have an operation of that nature, soon, and is taking the hormone pills in preperation.
Andy Weir, 5 February 2001

The flag consists also of many stripes, like the Gay Pride flag, but alternating in rosy pink and light blue (standing for both sexes?) separated by thin white stripes. On the upper hoist, a twinned Venus and Mars symbol ("⚥") in pink (a "bluer" shade) and outlined in black.
António Martins, 3 February 2001

The combined male and female symbol has been included into Unicode since version 4.1.0 and assigned the code point U+26A5. [1]

The flag was created in 1999 by Johnathan Andrew, aka "Captain John," a trans man from San Francisco, who presented it at his website (no longer online) "Adventures in Boyland," together with many other sexual orientation flags. [2,3] Actually, he presented two designs, the images of which (as well as those of all other flags) were not saved together with the page itself, but his description, [3] presented as being related to both flags (unlike all other flag images, each with a description of its own), reveals that on the other one, blue and pink colors were reversed; the symbol in canton was in lavender color. The variant with four pink and three blue stripes has outlived Andrew's site because it was presented on FOTW website, as well as a few other sites. [2,4] It is clear from Andrew's description, though, that the flag does not represent only transsexuals, but transgender persons in general. [3]
Tomislav Todorović, 30 May 2023
Sources:
[1] Unicode Consortium website - code chart for Miscellaneous Symbols block in version 4.1.0 (in PDF format): http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/Unicode-4.1/U41-2600.pdf
[2] Transgender flags at Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transgender_flag
[3] Adventures in Boyland website at the Internet Archive (captured on 6 March 2001): https://web.archive.org/web/20010306133412/http://www.adventuresinboyland.com/pride.html
[4] Transgender Society at the Internet Archive (captured on 6 March 2015): https://web.archive.org/web/20150310105635/http://transgendersociety.yolasite.com/tg-pride-flag-history-timeline.php


Variant without symbol

[Transsexual flag]
image by António Martins and Tomislav Todorović, 30 May 2023

The flag with four pink and three blue stripes, without the symbol in canton, was hoisted in Jersey City, USA, on 22 August 2018. [5] Described as the transgender flag, it was hoisted over the City Hall together with the USA national flag and the Rainbow Flag.
Tomislav Todorović, 30 May 2023
Sources:
[5] Alamy photo archive - Photo from Jersey City, taken on 22 August 2018: https://www.alamy.com/american-transgender-and-pride-flag-hang-over-city- hall-in-jersey-city-usa-image216465978.html


The flag reappeared in Berlin, Germany, in July 2023. [1,2] This appearance, shortly after the flag had been presented by the FOTW, suggests this page as the source from which the flag users learned about it.
Tomislav Todorović, 1 November 2023
Sources:
[1] Wikimedia Commons - Photo from the Christopher Street Day in Berlin, on 22 July 2023: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CSD_Berlin_2023_-_Lucas_Werkmeister_-_04_-_Andrew_Trans_Pride.jpg
[2] Wikimedia Commons - Photo from the Christopher Street Day in Berlin, on 22 July 2023: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CSD_Berlin_2023_-_Lucas_Werkmeister_-_05_-_Andrew_Trans_Pride.jpg