Gay Men

Vincian
Gender(s):	Men/Man-Aligned
Gender(s) attracted to:	Men/Man-Aligned

File:Mlm (five-stripe version).svg

The simplified version of gayflagblog's flag

Vincian and Cinthean (also called Patroclian and Wildean,) is one of multiple terms used to describe gay men or men-aligned people. It is unclear what the exact meaning of the term was intended to be. Some people treat it as a variant of achillean (referring to any MLM attraction, exclusive or not). Some people use it as the masculine equivalent of lesbian (referring to exclusive attraction).

The term "gay" is used as an adjective to describe homosexuality, and is also often used by the entire LGBT community in general. For this reason, various proposed terms for homosexual men were coined, including vincian. Some individuals also argue that "gay" should just mean homosexual men all together, due to the fact that homosexual women are referred to as lesbian. Other people simply refer to homosexual men as "gay men".

Other Terms

• Patroclian comes from the Greek story of Patroclus, who was thought to be a romantic partner of Achilles (Achilles is also the origin of Achillean). Many people feel this term is too long and has too many syllables.

• Wildean was coined in honor of Oscar Wilde, an important figure in LGBT history. (This is also used as a variant of Achillean.) Wildean is also used as an adjective to describe things connected to Oscar Wilde.
• Floric is a term used for non-woman attracted to non-women, it includes and is sometimes used as a synonym for “gay men”. It is named after Florence, the birthplace of Leonardo Da Vinci, who is the namesake of vincian.
• Cinthean is pulled the term from the Greek myth of Hyacinthius and Apollo.

Flags

The gay man flag by Valentin Belyaev.

The original vincian flag by ask-pride-color-schemes.

The cinthean flag.

An alternate gay man/vincian flag by gaymanflag on Tumblr.

There are many flags that represent gay men or vincians.

In the mid-2010s, gay activist Valentin Belyaev posted his version of the gay man flag in an initiative group in VKontakte to combat gayphobia (homophobia against men) and on Tumblr. It later spread further on the internet and especially spread in the gay activist space. This flag consists of shades of azure and blue, symbolizes the diversity of the gay community and is an analog of the traditional lesbian flag, consisting of shades of rose and red.

The original vincian flag was made by Mod Hermy of the @ask-pride-color-schemes Tumblr blog in 2017. It was based on the lipstick lesbian flag, which in turn was plagiarized from a satirical cougar pride flag. This design has been criticized for its stereotypical use of blue to represent gay men in terms of masculinity.

Later in 2019, the Tumblr Blog gayflagblog proposed a flag based off of the prior version that addressed the issues with the old one by adding symbolic and historical meanings to each color and stripe as well as allowing those in the community to offer input and propose their own changes.The top three stripes represent community, healing, and joy. The bottom three stripes represent pure love, fortitude, and diversity. The white middle stripe is taken from the trans flag and represents all trans, non-binary, and gender non-conforming vincians/gay men. The green and teal in the flag represent nature, as love between men is often seen as “unnatural” in the eyes of society and in religion. Furthermore, gay men have historically used green flowers and plants (carnations, hyacinths, etc.) The blue-to-purple gradient on the bottom of half the flag symbolizes how some vincians might be stereotypical, some might not be, and some are in-between or fluid.

There are various versions of this flag, including five-stripe and six-stripe "simplified" flags as well as various color edits to make the flag more purple with warmer greens, have different shades of green to represent the carnation flower, and one that added the color pink to the flag. Versions of the flag with the double-Mars symbol and the hyacinth flower have also been made.

The cinthean flag, was created by monstericfag on Twitter. The meaning is as follows: navy represents depth, purple represents beauty, fuchsia represents passion, pink represents pure love, peach represents joy, and white represents trans, nonbinary, and gender non-conforming people.

Etymology

The term vincian was coined in honor of Leonardo da Vinci, who was an Italian polymath of the Renaissance. He was thought to be involved in various homosexual relationships, although no one has proven it. He is most famous for his painting of Mona Lisa.