Bear flag (gay culture)

The International Bear Brotherhood Flag, also known as the bear flag, is a pride flag designed to represent the bear subculture within the LGBTQIA+ community. The colors of the flag—dark brown, orange/rust, golden yellow, tan, white, gray, and black—symbolize species of animal bears throughout the world.^[1] Though not necessarily referring to human skin color or hair color, the flag was designed with inclusion in mind.^[2] The bear culture celebrates secondary sex characteristics such as growth of body hair and facial hair, traits associated with bears.^[3]

Bear flag

International Bear Brotherhood Flag
Proportion	3:5
Adopted	1995; 30 years ago (1995)
Design	Field of seven equally sized horizontal stripes: dark brown, orange/rust, golden yellow, tan, white, gray, and black; with a bear paw print in the canton
Designed by	Craig Byrnes

Background

Craig Byrnes created the bear flag in Washington, D.C. in 1995.^[4] Byrnes' undergraduate degree in psychology involved designing a senior project about the bear culture that has exploded since the early 1980s, of which he had firsthand experience. He thought it might be fitting to design a flag that would best represent the bear community and include it with the results of his research. To do this, he received help from another influential member of the bear cultural community. Four variations were sewing machine-constructed and Byrnes won approval to display the four 3-by-5-foot (0.9 m × 1.5 m) prototype flags at the Chesapeake Bay "Bears of Summer" events in July 1995.

The winning design (a version created by Paul Witzkoske)^[5] is a field of simple horizontal stripes with a paw print in the upper left corner — a layout similar to the leather pride flag. The colors represent the furs of different bear species throughout the world as a sign of inclusivity.^[2] The flag is trademarked.^[6]

Gallery

• 
  The bear flag flown next to the rainbow flag as an expression of bear and gay pride
• 
  An Australian version using the bear paw from the Brotherhood flag
• 
  The bear flag flown at the Helsinki Pride parade in 2022
• 
  This historical marker in Washington, DC shares local history of the bear flag and bear fraternal organizations

Other

An International Bear Pride tartan was registered with the Scottish Register of Tartans in 2015. It is based on the colors of the bear flag.^[7]

See also

• LGBTQ symbols
• Rainbow flag

Further reading

• Martins, António (2007-08-04). "The International Bear Brotherhood Flag". Retrieved 15 December 2013.
• Sears, James Thomas (2005-01-01). Youth, Education, and Sexualities: An International Encyclopedia. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 701. ISBN 9780313327551.
• Jones, Devry (2022-10-22). "DC and the Development of the International Bear Brotherhood Flag". Retrieved 22 October 2022.