#elsegender

[ID: A version of the progress trans flag with eight horizontal stripes of: purple, black, blue, pink, white, yellow, black, and brown. In the center are concentric circles of black, dark purple, and gold. End ID.]

Explicitly include nonbinary and intersex people in the trans pride flag. Not just “including nonbinary people” as a single single white stripe for people with “neutral” genders that 99% of people don’t even know is for nonbinary people, and instead think is there to represent transitioning.

If you want support nonbinary people, one small step is to explicitly include us in the trans pride flag, and not just by lumping all of us together into a single “neutral” category that seems like it’s only there to separate the pink and blue stripes.

I’m tired of binary people, both cis and trans, promoting exorsexism and erasing and speaking over nonbinary people. If the pride flag can change to explicitly include and support trans people and people of color, then the trans flag can change too.

Being trans is not just for binary men and women. It’s not just for perisex people or white people. It’s 2023. How about we put the most erased parts of our community front and center in the trans community, and how about the rest of the trans community be proud to fight with us?

There are three main versions of this flag, with the most simplified version up top.

Symmetrical version:

[ID: Three versions of the trans progress pride flag, both with symetrical horizontal stripes of purple, black, blue, pink, yellow, white, yellow, pink, blue, black, and purple. The first version includes a brown sideways chevron, followed by a gold triangle of the intersex flag, with the dark purple circle in the center. The second version has a brown diamond in the center, with concentric circles of black, dark purple, and gold inside it. The third version has only the stripes. End ID.]

The white and yellow stripe on this six-striped version are reversed so that the white stripe, like the black, is easy to see against all background colors.

[ID: Two versions of the six-striped version of the trans progress pride flag, with stripes of purple, black, blue, pink, white, and yellow. The first version includes a brown sideways chevron, followed by a gold triangle of the intersex flag, with the purple circle in the center. The second version has a brown diamond in the center, with concentric circles of black, dark purple, and gold inside it. The third version has only the stripes. End ID.]

Here is the web archive link where you can download the HD versions of these flags, including the symbols:

“https://archive.org/details/progress-trans-flag”

Do not add images to this post unless they include a plain text image description in the body of the post directly below the image.

ALT text is not accessible for everyone who needs an image description. Plain text image descriptions are the most accessible option. That’s why I used an image description and not ALT text.

Please also do not suggest replacements or variations of this flag that leave out the black, white, purple, or yellow. They were all chosen for a reason. You can add other colors if you want, but removing the purple, yellow, black, or white is just as egregious as removing the blue or pink would be.

The black, white, yellow, and purple all represent forms of identity outside the binary. Combining the black and white into grey erases so many people and completely misunderstands the purpose of those stripes.

These are the baseline colors for the flag, you can customize them via less saturation, darkness, ect, when making art or using it for your own purposes. You do not need to color pick directly from this flag any time you use it.

same goes for "nonbinary people don't want to be gendered". i mean, yeah, a lot of us don't, even those who do have genders, but others very much do. i want to be gendered as maverique, just not as binary. that's part of why i use neopronouns rather than they/them, because to me, my neopronouns feel gendered in a way that's specific to me, whereas they/them pronouns are often referred to as non-gendered pronouns.

of course, most people will only know to view me in a binary-gendered way or in a non-gendered way, so i choose non-gendered, but that doesn't mean that me and many other non-binary people are necessarily non-gendered ourselves.

First and foremost: I'm personally a big fan of headcanons and have quite a few myself

But there's something about a specific type of headcanon that really bugs me: That people more often then not will immediately resort to they/them pronouns for characters they headcanon as elsegender/non-binary of some sort (this specifically excludes instances of fanfic where the character said to use those pronouns, in that case it's fine)

Yes, there's a lot of non-binary people using exclusively they/them pronouns

But there's also non-binary people using exclusively she/her pronouns

There's non-binary people using exclusively he/him pronouns

There's non-binary people using exclusively it/its pronouns

There's non-binary people using exclusively neopronouns

There's non-binary people using multiple sets of pronouns in whatever combination

There's non-binary people using no pronouns at all

Here's the expanded post.

Here's the web archive link to download this flag, and the other versions, in HD.

The trans progress flag, created to explicitly include intersex people, nonbinary people, and people of color.

This flag is public domain because I created it and I said so. You are allowed to do anything you want with it, including sell things you make with it.

The only thing I ask is that if you share it to other sites or repost it, copy and paste the image description I am including below.

[ID: The trans progress flag, with stripes of purple, black, blue, pink, white, yellow, black, and brown. In the center are concentric circles of black, purple, and gold. End ID.]

These are the baseline colors for the flag. You are under zero obligation to color pick directly from here when making art or crafts.

[PT: Are nonbinary people inherently included in lesbian? Or all sexualities for that matter? End PT]

This question is asked because I've seen people say that bi lesbians like myself are excluding nonbinary people from being lesbians, or that our labels are unnecessary, because "every sexuality inherently includes nonbinary people!" This is actually a false statement and I want to deconstruct why.

Note: I am bigender. I am a hypergirl and deminonbinary/demiaporagender. I view my enbyness and enby gender as a third gender.

Important terms that I will be using:

Elsegender: A more inclusive term for people of varying genders. Not all people view themselves as nonbinary just because they aren't binary men or binary women. I used nonbinary in the title because it's more popularly included in the statement I'm debunking.

Elsegender, ext: Someone who is elsegender is someone who does not identify as a man or a woman, or does, but they either don't identify as a binary man/woman, don't identify as a full man or full woman, only identify as a man or woman sometimes, or identify as both a man and a woman and feel included under elsegender. Elsegender includes a lot of genders and gender modalities or experiences.

Full moon springtide bi/mspec lesbian/lunian: Someone who identifies as a bi lesbian, mspec lesbian, and/or lunian who experiences attraction that is traditionally considered exclusively lesbian attraction. They are not attracted to men or masculinely aligned genders unless those men/masc people are genderfluid, multigender, or otherwise a woman or elsegender. It is up to the specific person if those masc people are included in their attraction. Unlike bi lesbians who are repeatedly excluded from being lesbians and told they're actually just bi, these bi lesbians are repeatedly excluded from bisexuality and told they can just be a lesbian if they give up their bi identity.

Lesbian: https://www.tumblr.com/redtail-lol/717897870015135744/my-take-on-a-definition-for-lesbian?source=share

Bi: Attracted to 2 or more genders, in one form of attraction. Has had other definitions, including "attracted to genders like and unlike your own" and both definitions are valid. Not inherently attracted to all genders but can be

Mspec: Attracted to 2 or more genders. They don't have to be in the same form of attraction

Lunian: An mspec lesbian

Mspec lesbian: A lesbian who is mspec

Bi lesbian: A lesbian who is bi.

Okay. Now I am finally at the point. I can answer the question: are elsegender people inherently included in every sexuality, including lesbian?

The answer is no. A resounding no.

There is a massive difference between inclusion and inherent inclusion. Using lesbian as an example, elsegender people being included in lesbian means elsegender people can identify as lesbians, (exclusive) lesbians can feel attracted to elsegender people, and elsegender people can be in lesbian relationships. Elsegender people being inherently included in lesbian means *every* elsegender person who is (exclusively) attracted to women and to other elsegender people is a lesbian and *every* lesbian is attracted to elsegender people. Which is just... Not the case, and harmful.

Not all people are going to be attracted to elsegender people. Not all lesbians, not all veldians, not all straight men or straight women, not all bi people, not all trixics and torics, and no feminamorics or viramorics. Not all sexualities include elsegender people at all, and only those that specify attraction to elsegender people inherently include them (see: enbian, trixenamoric, pansexual, etc.)

Not all elsegender people are comfortable calling themselves straight, gay/veldian, or lesbian, nor are they all comfortable being with someone who calls themselves one of these labels, because these words are all heavily connotated with binary gender love. Inherently including elsegender people into all sexualities misgenders them.

Being inherently included in lesbian can make some elsegender people feel like they're just viewed as women. There was a large debate on the inclusion of elsegender people in binary connotated orientations, and while some of the pushback was just from exclusionists who didn't want their labels "invaded" by people who had historical proof they'd always been there, but a lot of it was from elsegender people who didn't want to feel like they were just women or just men. The solution is an opt-in and opt-out system. You opt in to the labels that you want. You choose if you're trixic, straight, or a lesbian. Meanwhile, you can't stop a lesbian from liking you, but you can decide to not go out with them because you don't feel comfortable being with a lesbian and feel misgendered by that. That's normal inclusion. Inherent inclusion is anti-enby and also ignores all monosexuals. People who are only attracted to one gender exist and it's wrong to erase them.

If you believe elsegender people are inherently included in every orientation, you also believe:

Everyone is mspec, OR elsegender people do not have separate genders from 'man' and 'woman.' They're just spicy men or spicy women. Men lite or women lite.

All lesbians are mspec lesbians, OR elsegender people are just women, therefore making full moon springtide bi/mspec lesbians/lunians monosexual.

Lesbians are never exclusively attracted to women, OR elsegender people are just women

Bi and lesbian are actually not mutually exclusive, OR bi people must like men AND women in order to be bi.

iNaturalist staff, who literally get paid to be decent people, have decided that calling out transmisia is malicious, but purposefully being transmisic and purposefully misgendering trans people isn't!

Gendernot: having an experience that is not gender, but something else. I.e. a boynot would not describe boy as one’s gender, but something else.