An ally or straight ally is a cisgender, heterosexual/romantic, allosexual/romantic (cishet) individual who is not a part of the LGBTA+ community but supports the community. An ally acknowledges that LGBT people face discrimination and thus are socially disadvantaged, supports LGBT+ rights, and challenges homophobia, transphobia, etc. Not everyone who meets this definition identifies specifically as an "ally". Not all cishet people are allies.
The A in LGBTA+ does not stand for ally, rather it stands for asexual, aromantic, agender, abrosexual, abroromantic, and many other LGBTA+ identities that start with "a".
History
It is unknown when the term "ally" was first used, however it has been around seemingly since the post events of The Stonewall Riots.
Flags
The straight ally flag was created sometime in the late 2000s, but the specific origin is unknown. The cisgender ally flag was created by Twitter user @vaultausir at an unknown time.
The polyamorous ally flag was created by William on January 21, 2021, as she noticed the lack of polyamorous support amongst many polyamorous people.
The PoC/tPoC ally flag was also created by William, in order for white cishets to show support to not only transgender and queer people, but support to POC and the struggles they go through. It was coined on January 22nd, 2021.
The xenogender ally flag was created January 8th, 2021, by wiki user ringotheman#3304. It was made for non-xenic/non-xenogender to show support for xenogender, xeno-aligned and xenic folks.
Resources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straight_ally#Historical_background
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Straight Ally flag by @vaultausir
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LGBTQ+ Ally flag for Monogamous Cishets (coined by Cryptocrew)
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Cisgender Ally flag (by Cryptocrew)
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Xenic ally flag by FANDOM user ringotheman
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Queer Trans Ally Flag by FANDOM user Waterbutcold
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Flag for non-LGBTQ+ Allies (Made by GammaRaul)
