PolitiFact – Internet-created flag for pedophiles is not connected to LGBTQ+ community

June is the month for colorful pride flags. But a worrisome new flag design has been whipping up concerns across social media.

“The pedophiles have their very own (Minor-Attracted Persons) flag,” a woman says in a May 31 Instagram reel. “This is not pride and it does not belong in the LGBT community,” read the video’s caption.

(Screenshot from Instagram)

Images of the “pedophile pride flag” began circulating in June of 2018, as users shared the image, warning “minors” to be aware of the symbol. The Daily Caller that year suggested the flag was an effort by pedophiles to “gain acceptance” into the LGBTQ+ community. 

Despite several fact-checkers debunking the claim that the symbol has anything to do with the LGBTQ+ community or its advocacy work, these claims have recirculated amid 2023’s Pride month celebrations. https://archive.is/kLhzt

Research suggests this flag was created as an online prank. There is no evidence the LGBTQ+ community has adopted it or aims to incorporate pedophilia into its advocacy. 

The Instagram post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

Origins of the flag

The pastel pink, blue, yellow and white-striped flag first appeared on a Tumblr page in June 2018 in what appeared to be a trolling attempt, according to Snopes. 

“The NOMAP community doesn’t really have a pride flag, so in honor of pride month I designed a NOMAP pride flag,” the post read. The user then described each color stripe and its meaning. 

The acronym “NOMAP” is used online to mean “nonoffending minor attracted persons.” The term “minor-attracted persons” is used by some organizations that aim to provide access to therapy and resources for adults who describe themselves as being sexually attracted to children. It has also been used in some research. Use of the phrase has been criticized as an attempt to “normalize” pedophilia. 

Despite its prank origins, the flag design gained attention as concerned social media users shared the image as a warning, which led other users to condemn its use. PolitiFact found very few instances of the image being shared on social media in what appeared to be a supportive manner — but even in those cases, the posts’ anonymity made it unclear whether that support was genuine. 

Russell Dick is a social worker and co-founder of B4U-ACT, a nonprofit group that promotes access to professional services and resources for adults who say they are attracted to children. Some people with whom his organization engages have shared the flag, he said, but “B4U-ACT has not endorsed the MAP flag nor do we reject MAPs who do display the MAP flag.” 

He said there is no way to know how all people are using a given symbol, but said that “B4U-ACT is not working to align MAPs with the LGBTQ community.” The Global Prevention Project, an organization doing work similar to B4U-ACT’s, states the same on its website. 

LGBTQ+ advocates aren’t embracing pedophilia

LGBTQ+ advocates do not endorse this flag.

Laurel Powell, a spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ+ advocacy group with more than 3 million members and supporters, said any claim that the movement to support LGBTQ+ rights is associated with this flag or its supposed meaning is wrong. 

“This is categorically false,” Powell said, “and disinformation of this kind is part and parcel of ongoing attempts to demonize LGBTQ+ people by claiming associations that do not exist.” 

The Human Rights Campaign keeps track of pride flags on its website. The MAP flag is not represented. 

Laura McGinnis, spokesperson for PFlag, another large LGBTQ+ advocacy organization with more than 325,000 members and supporters, said pedophilia and hebephila (attraction to early adolescents) are “disordered sexual preferences.”

“They’re not part of the LGBTQ+ community,” McGinnis said. She said anti-LGBTQ rhetoric has a  long history of leveling accusations of pedophilia against queer people. She characterized such claims as “vile,” “dehumanizing,” and intended to “strip LGBTQ+ people of their humanity.”

“That connection of pedophilia and hebephilia to LGBTQ+ people is longstanding,” she said. “It’s old, it’s tired, and it’s incorrect.”

Neither the Human Rights Campaign or PFlag knew of any major LGBTQ+ organization that had recognized such a flag or any legitimate advocacy for the inclusion of MAPs in the LGBTQ+ community. 

PolitiFact also checked major pride flag vendors and looked online and could find no place where such a flag was being sold. And, despite online claims, the colors used in the MAP flag have nothing to do with the transgender pride flag or the progress pride flag.

Our ruling

An Instagram reel suggested that a movement representing “minor attracted people” has adopted a flag that is being integrated into LGBTQ+ advocacy.

This flag design first surfaced on Tumblr in 2018 in what appears to have been intended as a prank. It is not a part of a large movement for people attracted to children and neither it nor its supposed symbolism is embraced or endorsed by LGBTQ+ advocates. We rate this claim False.