Aromantic (or Aro) is a romantic orientation. Some reasons for identifying as aromantic can include disinterest in romantic relationships, an absence of romantic attraction, or aversion to romance.

Aromantics may vary in their relationship preferences, but their preferences are those of a non-romantic attraction, such as a platonic attraction, or a desire of wanting to be in a platonic relationship. Some aromantics want to be in a platonic relationship and have a platonic partner, while others are completely nonamorous and non-partnering. There are many different ways to be aromantic.

For various misconceptions about aromanticism, see the myths for more information.

As with any romantic orientation, aromantic people may identify with any sexual orientation label.

One of the first places the term "aromantic" was used online was the AVEN forums in 2005,[1] where "aromantic" was derived as a romantic parallel to asexual.[2]

At least three different aromantic community flag designs have been proposed. Currently, the most popular is the design with two shades of green, white, gray, and black. This design is used both in the graphic design for the aromantic forum Arocalypse and the aromantic advocacy site AUREA.

The oldest aromantic flag design was proposed sometime during or before 2011, via the now-defunct website of the National Coalition for Aromantic Visibility.[3] This design featured horizontal stripes in the colors green, yellow, orange, and black. According to their website, "Green is for aromantics, who do not naturally experience romantic attachment. Yellow represents romantic friendship, friends with benefits, and friendship dating. Orange stands for lithromantics, individuals who experience romantic love but do not wish it returned. And finally, the black stripe is for romantics who consciously choose to reject traditional romantic culture." This flag was subject to extensive criticism.

An alternative flag design was proposed in 2014 by Cameron, maintaining the green and yellow but introducing more of a gradient design, with two slightly different shades of green and preceding the black stripe with a stripe of gray.[4] The two greens represent the aromantic spectrum, the yellow represents platonic love and relationships, and the gray and black stripes represent the sexuality spectrum, representing aromantics of all sexual orientations.[5]

Later in 2014, Cameron decided to change the yellow stripe to white.[6] The symbolism of this design is largely the same.[7] This flag has since been embraced and gained the most popularity as a flag for the aromantic community. As stated in Cameron's explanation, this flag design is explicitly intended for the entire aro umbrella, including grayromantics, demiromantics, lithromantics, and more.