^{This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website}

BiPride flag

image by António Martins, 10 May 2000

Description and origin of the flag
No right-side-up
The trillium symbol
Localized variants

Mexico

See also:

Sexual orientation flags

Description and origin of the flag

Bisexuals are folks who like to play with either men or women.
Al Kirsch, 3 February 2001

The flag itself is a horizontal tricolor of magenta, lavender, and royal blue (PMS colors: top stripe 226, middle 258, bottom 286), in proportions 2:1:2. The overall proportions of the flag do not seem to be fixed, but instead are of the commercially available proportions, either 2:3 or 3:5. The designer, Michael Page, described the history and symbolism of the flag to me in personal correspondence as follows:

The BiPride Flag was unveiled at the BiCafe's first Anniversary Party on Dec. 5th 1998. In that short period of time, the tri-colored flag has been referred to by Dr. Fritz Klein as being "A most important new Bi symbol" in the BiNet USA newsletter dated Winter 1998. […] The symbolism, Steve, is simply an evolution of the Pink and Blue triangles [an earlier symbol of the bisexual community — SK]. These triangles often overlap with purple being the resultant color. I designed the layout of the flag to reflect that overlap, because to me, the Lavender represents "me", a "Middle Person." I had a prototype developed and currently have over a thousand BiPride Flags in various shapes and sizes. Of all the past symbols for the bi movement or bisexuality, none were flaggable on a mass scale. To me, this new BiPride Flag will give Bi People the visibility necessary to invoke the presence we have at many GLBT [stands for "gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered" — SK] events, but never had managed to effectively manifest in the past.

The flag is trademarked, and Michael Page is allowing us to post it. I believe we should note this on the page, together with the address of the BiCafe info@bicafe.com so that those who wish to use it may contact the proper authority for permission.
Steve Kramer, 16 and 18 March 1999

No right-side-up

image by Tomislav Todorović, 7 July 2020

The flag is indeed usually hoisted with magenta at the top, the examples being far too numerous to mention. Still there are the examples of hoisting with blue at the top, as was done in Madrid, Spain in 2013,[1] Washington, DC in 2016,[2] and an unspecified location in the USA in 2019.[3] There are also the examples of flags hoisted in both ways used jointly, such as Saint Petersburg, Russia, in 2014 [4,5] and Manchester, England, in 2019.[6] Consequently, this is another "no right side up" flag.
Tomislav Todorović, 7 July 2020
Sources:
[1] — Wikimedia Commons - Photo from Madrid Gay Pride, on 6 July 2013: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Orgullo_Gay_Madrid_2013_(8).jpg
[2] — Wikimedia Commons - Photo from Capital Pride Parade DC, on 11 June 2016: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Capital_Pride_Parade_DC_2016_(27827420056).jpg
[3] — Wikimedia Commons - Photo from the USA, location unspecified, on 6 July 2019: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WE_ARE_PROUD.jpg
[4] — Wikimedia Commons - Photo from Saint-Petersburg Gay Pride, on 26 July 2014: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Spbpride2014_-_2.jpg
[5] — Wikimedia Commons - Photo from Saint-Petersburg Gay Pride, on 26 July 2014: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Spbpride2014_-_3.jpg
[6] — Flickr - Photo from Manchester Pride Parade, on 3 September 2019: https://www.flickr.com/photos/gclintonlindop/48673928261/

The trillium symbol

The BiCafe adds a relatively new symbol that resembles a trillium to represent bisexuals.
Steve Kramer, 16 March 1999