Polyamorous flag
Used on: Polyamorous
Designer: Jim Evans
·
Late summer/early fall 1995
Three equal horizontal stripes, blue, red, and black, with a gold Greek letter pi (π) centered on the red stripe. Made by Jim Evans in Microsoft Paint on Windows 3.1 and released into the public domain.
| Stripe |
HEX |
RGB |
CMYK |
Pantone |
Meaning |
| Top stripe |
#0000FF |
0,0,255 |
C:100 M:100 Y:0 K:0 |
n/a |
Openness and honesty among all partners |
| Middle stripe |
#FF0000 |
255,0,0 |
C:0 M:100 Y:100 K:0 |
n/a |
Love and passion |
| Bottom stripe |
#000000 |
0,0,0 |
C:0 M:0 Y:0 K:100 |
n/a |
Solidarity with those who must hide their relationships |
| Pi symbol |
#FFFF00 |
255,255,0 |
C:0 M:0 Y:100 K:0 |
n/a |
Value of emotional attachment to others |
History
Pi is the first letter of "polyamory" written with the Greek prefix; as a mathematical constant it is infinite and non-repeating, a play on "infinite love." Despite becoming the de facto standard for nearly three decades, the Pi Flag was persistently criticized: harsh clashing colors, resemblance to some far-right flags (causing distress to polyamorous people of color), an obscure pi symbol, and an overall amateurish aesthetic.
Infinity Heart Variant (University of Northern Colorado Poly Community, 2017)
Identical three-stripe layout with the pi symbol replaced by a white infinity heart. This version coexisted with the original but neither achieved universal acceptance.
PolyamProud Tricolor (Red Howell, 2022), also in current use
Chosen by a democratic vote of 30,827 participants after a year-long redesign process by the PolyamProud committee. Three stripes, cyan blue, magenta, and dark purple, with a white chevron holding a gold heart. Red Howell: "The intention was to create a simple, bold tricolor, with a contemporary approach to traditional vexillological elements from the original Pi flag." Both the Pi Flag and the 2022 Tricolor remain in active use; there is no single universally mandated version.
