Gay Men

Gay Men
The gay man flag by Tumblr user "gayflagblog".
Gender(s):	Men (+ potentially others)
Gender(s) attracted to:	Men (+ potentially others)

The simplified version of gayflagblog's flag

Gay men are men and male-aligned (helian) or masculine-aligned (phoebian) individuals who experience gay attraction to men/solarians and/or masculine individuals.

This identity is sometimes more broadly defined as non-women attracted to non-women. However, not all non-binary individuals feel comfortable being included under gay male attraction. A non-woman attracted to non-women is also called floric.

Another definition that is used commonly is men and non-binary individuals attracted to men and non-binary individuals, including all NBLM, MLNB, and NBLNB attractions. As, again, not all non-binary individuals feel comfortable being included under gay male attraction, alternate labels such as toric or uranic are sometimes used.

Other Terms

Many proposed terms for gay men exist. They include:

• Uranian: A historical term that is sometimes used to mean gay men.
• Turian or Veldian: Named after Alan Turing. Describes both gay men and gay (NBLM) non-binary individuals.
• Floric: Named after Florence, the birthplace of Leonardo Da Vinci, who is the namesake of vincian. It is a term used for non-woman attracted to non-women, it includes and is sometimes used as a synonym for "gay men".
• Vincian: Coined as a synonym for achillean, but is sometimes used to mean "gay man".
• Patroclian or Patroclic: Comes from the Greek story of Patroclus, who was thought to be a romantic partner of Achilles (the origin of Achillean).
• Hyacinthine, Hyacinthian, Hyacinthi or Cinthean: Based on Hyacinth/Hyacinthus from Greek mythology.
• Thamyrian or Thamyri: Based on Thamyris is Greek mythology, cited as “the first man to have loved another male”.
• Carnatian: From the green carnation flower, used in as a lapel in Victorian times to symbolize male homosexuality.
• Viridian: Coming from viridi the Latin word for green, a color often associated with male homosexuality. Vir also means man.
• Casian: Based on the Latin casia meaning "lavender".
• Gayan: Has the same meaning as “gay” in “gay man” just as “lesbian” has in “lesbian woman”.
• Magnian: Meant to honor Magnus Hirschfeld.
• Virsic: Being gay for men, regardless of gender.
• Virescin: Comes from the word virescent, meaning greenish. It is based off green carnations.
• Phthian: named after Phthia, city where Achilles was born.

Flags

There are many flags that represent gay men.

In the mid-2010s, gay activist Valentin Belyaev posted his version of the gay man flag in an initiative group in VKontakte to combat gayphobia (homophobia against men) and on Tumblr. It later spread further on the internet and especially spread in the gay activist space. This flag consists of shades of azure and blue, symbolizes the diversity of the gay community and is an analog of the traditional lesbian flag, consisting of shades of rose and red.

Another gay male flag was made by Mod Hermy of the @ask-pride-color-schemes Tumblr blog in 2017.

Another design that circulated was based on the lipstick lesbian flag, which in turn was plagiarized from a satirical cougar pride flag. This design has been criticized for its stereotypical use of blue to represent gay men in terms of masculinity.

On July 10, 2019, the Tumblr Blog gayflagblog proposed a flag based off of the prior version that addressed the issues with the old one by adding symbolic and historical meanings to each color and stripe as well as allowing those in the community to offer input and propose their own changes. The top three stripes represent community, healing, and joy. The bottom three stripes represent pure love, fortitude, and diversity. The white middle stripe is taken from the trans flag and represents all trans, non-binary, and gender non-conforming gay men. The green and teal in the flag represent nature, as love between men is often seen as “unnatural” in the eyes of society and in religion. Furthermore, gay men have historically used green flowers and plants (carnations, hyacinths, etc.) The blue-to-purple gradient on the bottom of half the flag symbolizes how some gay men might be stereotypical, some might not be, and some are in-between or fluid.

There are various versions of this flag, including five-stripe and six-stripe "simplified" flags as well as various color edits to make the flag more purple with warmer greens, have different shades of green to represent the carnation flower, and one that added the color pink to the flag. Versions of the flag with the double-Mars symbol and the hyacinth flower have also been made. High quality versions of all of these were posted on Imgur.

The cinthean flag was created by monstericfag on Twitter. The meaning is as follows: navy represents depth, purple represents beauty, fuchsia represents passion, pink represents pure love, peach represents joy, and white represents trans, nonbinary, and gender non-conforming individuals.

Another gay male flag was designed by tumblr user Chara Violet on June 5, 2021. This flag is based on all the other flags for gay male subcultures:

• On the top, there's a pink stripe which is seen on the twink flag + the crown in the drag flag. Pink is also a color that’s historically been used to represent gay men in various ways. On this flag, it stands for gender non-conformity
• Then there's a peach stripe is to reminisce of the bear flag’s ambers and browns, while sticking to the aesthetic of the flag. On this flag, it represents sexuality and sensuality
• The pale yellow stripe is found on both the twink flag and the bear flag, and on this flag it represents nblm and trans men
• The pale azure stripe is used in the Achillean flag, as well as in many gender flags to represent masculinity (see: trans flag, demiboy flag, etc). On this flag, it represents strength and community
• The lavender is also in the drag flag, and when next to the azure stripe it can reminisce of the blues used in the bi flag, leather flag, genderfluid flag, etc. On this flag, it represents peace and community.

And after all that, they all come together to form a pastel rainbow, referencing how the rainbow flag used to be the go-to for gay men, as well as how pastel/iridescence and unicorns are often used as symbols for the community.

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  The gay man flag by Valentin Belyaev.

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  A gay male flag by ask-pride-color-schemes.

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  The cinthean flag.

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  A gay man flag by gaymanflag on Tumblr.

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  A gay man/vincian flag by tumblr user chara violet

• gayflagblog's 40 proposed flags
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Non-typical gay men

• Turigirl
• Non-Binary Gay
  • Agender Gay
  • Bigender Gay
  • Libramasculine Gay
  • Gay Demiboy
  • Genderfluid Gay
• Shadowfloric
• Solian
  • Omni-Gay
  • Pan-Gay
  • Bi-Gay
• Gayhet
• It/Its Gay
• She/Her Gay
• Neopronoun Gay
• They/Them Gay
• Androcupiosappho
• Minkalosfem
• Bambi Gay
• Gayflux