Sorry, I Have To Vent A Little Bit. What Is Your Opinion Regarding All Of This Going On On Twitter Abiut

Sorry, I have to vent a little bit. What is your opinion regarding all of this going on on twitter abiut people wanting to change the pan flag? I have been seeing so many different stories and flags, and all of this is just making me more confused on what is true. And, at the end of the day, isn't the flag already incorporated into our community? How could people change this overnight? Sorry to disturb again

no need to apologize, i’ve been wanting to address this on here so you gave me the perfect opportunity! but buckle up because i’m about to break this down and it’s going to be long

this “new pan flag” stuff started because a group of people assumed the pan flag had a transphobic meaning. these people, mostly non-pan, saw a jpg of the pan flag with inaccurate, transphobic meanings attributed to the stripes and instead of doing research, they assumed it was the actual meaning of the flag from the creator, jasper. they decided a new pan flag should be used, so they alone created one and posted it, saying the original is transphobic and shouldn’t be used and that theirs was created to not be transphobic. (they also “created” dozens of other more specific pan flags that some people have said were stolen from mogai tumblr.)

their pan flag had the same colors as the original, but two stripes for each color. it’s literally the pan flag but with six stripes. one of the meanings they gave a stripe was being genderblind, which just highlights the fact that they aren’t pan and didn’t consult pan people, because we largely don’t use this term. they have since altered their stripe meanings, but still ended up being transphobic, because they included attraction to sex.

anyways, their flag gained attention, as well as criticism. people started linking them to a thread from jasper about the origin of the pan flag and its meaning (hint: it’s not transphobic). for a while they ignored this. they doubled down on their flag by using pan and trans people who supported them as a way to silence those who were criticizing them. they maintained that the pan flag, jasper, and those who use it are transphobic. (keep in mind that jasper is not cis.)

during all this, that group of people showed their ignorance further by equating pronouns to gender and saying being non-binary is not having a gender.

they eventually admitted they were wrong about the flag meaning and jasper, but they kept promoting their flag. if their entire reason for making the flag isn’t actually true, what purpose then does the flag serve?

if these people had just said they don’t like the pan flag and wanted to create a better looking one, and didn’t promote it as “the new pan flag” and slander the original and jasper to do it, no one would have cared. but they had to come up with a reason why the original and jasper are problematic to get people to use it. (probably figured this would work because people switched lesbian flags when people realized the creator was racist/transphobic.)

this all happened in the beginning of june. it kind of died down for a while, until today.

jasper tweeted support for bi/pan lesbians (which i have a post of information and sources for here). and this got that group who created a new pan flag, as well as exclusionists who were mainly lesbians, heated. so they all started promoting that new flag again. some people, including non-pan people, even started creating more new pan flags.

this round of “we need a new pan flag” was even less justified than the first. i mean, in what world does “hey the creator of the pan flag isn’t an exclusionist who ignores queer history so let’s boycott their flag” make sense?

it gets worse when you take into consideration how all the people pushing for the use of that new pan flag, or others, did absolutely nothing about how the replies of their posts became a playground for plain old panphobia and transphobia. which isn’t surprising because this has never been about the pan community or calling out queerphobia. it’s about exclusionists thinking they run the community.

this whole thing, from beginning to end, resulted in jasper being harassed, misgendered, labeled a transphobe and a terf, accused of being lesbophobic and pan/biphobic. for a fucking month straight. during pride, no less. for things that weren’t true and easily fact checked, and for *not* being an exclusionist.

and beyond everything, random groups of people creating a flag they intent to replace a specific queer community’s known, established flag, especially when they aren’t part of that community, is not how any of this works. there are so many “new pan flags” going around now and all it’s doing is causing confusion, spreading misinformation, and guaranteeing that the original pan flag remains *the* pan flag.

a new pan flag would be up to the pan community, and the pan community alone. not exclusionists, lesbians, kpop stans, or even a group of pan people on twitter. if there was a valid concern about the pan flag, the pan community should come together to decide if we want a new one or not, and if we did, we would decide as a community what it would be.

others deciding for us is panphobic. supporting others deciding for us is panphobic. period.

it’s worth mentioning that pan lesbians take home the ultimate pettiness award for reclaiming the new six stripe pan flag as the new pan lesbian flag and it’s wonderful because the exclusionists are biiiiiig mad about it, but like...that’s what you fucking get for trying to decide a new pan flag on behalf of us based on lies and exclusionist rhetoric.

EDIT: since i posted this, another accusation has made against the pan flag/jasper. this time it’s “stealing the flag from a kingdom” and i talk about it here.

EDIT: there has been yet another smear campaign against the pan flag/jasper, this time because jasper supports kink at pride and i talk about it here.

also, jasper has some great threads worth checking out:

pan flag creation

accusations made against them/the flag, as well as documenting all the exclusionists pan flags

pan flag in the wild

pan flag themed art

accidental pan flags

pan-adjacent flags

tldr: this is the only general pan community flag i recognize and support. it’s already a clear, established symbol of the pan identity and community, and has been for over a decade. and it doesn’t have an origin of lies, misinformation, panphobia, transphobia, exclusionist rhetoric, and harassment.

[Image Description: The pansexual/panromantic pride flag. Three stripes; pink at the top, yellow in the middle, and blue at the bottom.]