According to Advocate.com, the asexual flag was first made in 2010 and was inspired by the Asexual Visibility and Education Network (AVEN) logo.
The black stands for asexuality, the gray for gray-asexuality and demisexuality, the white for non-asexual partners, and the purple for community.
"Prior to its adoption, people would use things like the AVEN triangle or a half-filled heart, but those had problems which prevented their wider adoption," Asexuality Archive wrote about the need for a distinct asexual flag. "The AVEN triangle is, well, the AVEN triangle. It’s the logo of a single website that not every asexual person is affiliated with."
