Double Venus Symbol – Two interlocking Venus symbols representing lesbians or sex between women. The symbol of the goddess Venus is used to represent the female sex or gender while Mars represents male.

‘Sunset’ Lesbian Flag – One of the newest Lesbian flags to go mainstream. This flag was created by blogger Emily Gwen and debuted on tumblr in 2018 in response to previous flags not being representative of all lesbians.

Variation with colour meanings overlaid.

5 colour variation – made to be easier for printing and reproducing.

Lipstick Lesbian Flag – Created in 2010 by Natalie McCray, this flag was originally only meant to represent the lipstick lesbian subculture but later would have the lipstick symbol removed and be taken as a flag meant to represent the lesbian community as a whole.

Version withouth lipstick mark – used as general lesbian flag.

Cougar flag – widely believed to have been appropriated in the design of the Lipstick Lesbian Flag.

Labrys Symbol – A stylised representation of an Ancient Greek or Minoan double headed axe. In feminist interpretations it represents female strength and power due to being found on ancient depictions of female warriors or goddesses, rarely on men and male gods.
Due to it’s association with female strength it was also adopted as a lesbian symbol in the 1970s and is most often associated with lesbian feminism and radical feminism.

Ancient Roman mosaic depicting Amazon warrior with a Labrys axe.

Radical lesbian feminst Mary Daly with Labrys axe.

Black Triangle – Used in the triangle code to designate prisoners by type in Nazi concentration camps. The black triangle was used to mark prisoners designated ‘asocial’. This included Roma, disabled people and those with intellectual disabilities, those who had Aryan-Jewish sexual relations as well as nonconformists, including women.

Labrys Flag – One of the first lesbian flags to enter popular culture, this was designed in 1999 by gay graphic designer Sean Campbell. Although it was designed by a man, it combined symbols that has already been in use by lesbians for decades.

Variation of the Labrys flag featuring the trans flag colours and trans planetary symbol.

Variation without inverted triangle symbol.

Violets – Violet flowers have been a symbol of sapphic and lesbian love since around the 6th century due to the poetry of Sappho, who often described women wearing garlands of violets.
They were also featured in a 1926 play, The Captive by Édouard Bourdet, when a female character sent another woman a bouquet of violets which was highly controversial at the time.

Lavender – The colour and the flower has long since been associated with gay men and women but it was lesbians specifically who were described as a ‘Lavender menace’ who would undermine the women’s movement by feminist Betty Friedan in 1970. At this time, many feminist movements were trying to distance themselves from gay women and in response lesbian activist groups took the term and ran with it.

Linda Rhodes, Arlene Kisner and Ellen Broidy wearing Lavender Menace shirts at the action at the Second Congress to Unite Women.

Beware the Lavender Menace poster.

Butch Lesbian Flag – Created in 2017 by tumblr user Butchspace. This flag is to symbolise butch lesbians and was created as a response to the lipstick lesbian colour scheme.

Sapphic Flag – Sappic is a term used to describe all WLW (woman loving women) and as such the Sapphic identity includes lesbians, bisexual women and all other women or woman aligned people attracted to women.

Lesbian Bear Flag – Lesbian bears (or she-bears) are gay women who feel an affinity with the bear label used in gay male spaces. Lesbian bears are usually butch or masc leaning women who are plus size, feel sexy with their natural body hair and exude a friendly yet rugged masculinity.

Double Venus Pride Flag – Variation of the six stripe Gilbert Baker rainbow pride flag featuring the double interlocking venus symbol. This flag is used to represent lesbians and other WLW.