Intersex flag
yellow flag with a purple circle used by the intersex community
The intersex flag is a flag representing intersex individuals and the intersex community. It was created by Morgan Carpenter of Intersex Human Rights Australia in 2013.
History and design
The flag was created in July 2013 by Morgan Carpenter of Intersex Human Rights Australia (then known as Organisation Intersex International Australia) to create a flag "that is not derivative, but is yet firmly grounded in meaning". Yellow and purple were chosen as colours as they were viewed as free from gender associations and were historically used to represent intersex people. The circle is described as "unbroken and unornamented, symbolizing wholeness and completeness, and our potentialities."
The organization describes it as freely available "for use by any intersex person or organization who wishes to use it, in a human rights affirming community context".
Usage
The intersex flag has been utilised by a range of media and human rights organisations. In June 2018, intersex activists took part in Utrecht Canal Pride, waving the flag.
In May 2018, New Zealand became the first country where the intersex flag was raised outside the national parliament.
Gallery
Flags derived from the intersex flag
The intersex flag has been remixed and adapted in numerous ways. For example, in 2021, the intersex flag was incorporated into the Progress Pride flag version of the rainbow pride flag by Valentino Vecchietti of Intersex Equality Rights UK.
Other intersex symbols
Because the word "orchid" comes from the Greek word for testicle, and the orchiectomy is a common surgery performed on intersex infants –especially those with androgen insensitivity syndrome– the orchid flower is symbolic of intersexuality and of opposition to non-consensual genital surgery.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Intersex flag” as yellow flag with a purple circle used by the intersex community. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q17053858. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2013, 2018 and 2021.
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This entry incorporates text from “Intersex flag” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.