The hanky code: what every colour means, and which pocket

Before apps, a bandana in a back pocket did the talking. In the hanky code, also called flagging, the colour of the handkerchief says what you’re into, and the pocket says which role you want. It grew out of the leather bars of the early 1970s, and it’s still part of gay culture: a nod to history, a piece of gear and a great conversation starter.

Left or right: which pocket means what?

Left means top: the one doing it, the active or dominant partner. Right means bottom: the one receiving it, the passive or submissive partner. That’s how the early sources lay it out, from Hal Fischer’s 1977 book Gay Semiotics to the chart in Bob Damron’s 1980 address book. A few modern articles flip it; the originals don’t.

Tip: Not everyone with a bandana in their pocket knows the code, and the lists changed between cities and decades. Treat a hanky as an opening line, not a promise, and talk before you play.

Hanky code colours and their meanings

Where the hanky code came from

Nobody can name a single inventor, and the sources disagree on the details. Here’s what they agree on, and where they don’t.

• The legend: in Gold Rush San Francisco, where women were scarce, men at dances supposedly wore a blue bandana to dance the man’s part and a red one to dance the woman’s. It’s a good story with thin evidence, so treat it as folklore.
• Around 1970, New York: a Village Voice writer joked that coloured hankies would be a better signal than the keys some men already wore on one hip. A 1976 letter to Drummer magazine went further and called the whole code a media hoax that started with a 1975 Village Voice article.
• Around 1971 to 1972, San Francisco: Hal Fischer wrote that the signs began appearing around 1971, helped by The Trading Post, a store that sold hankies with printed cards explaining the colours. Alan Selby, who later founded Mr S Leather, said he launched the code “officially” in 1972 at the shop Leather ’n’ Things, after a bandana supplier accidentally doubled an order. His biographer says that memory wasn’t entirely accurate.
• 1977 to 1983: Drummer printed a chart in 1977, the year Fischer’s Gay Semiotics documented the code. Bob Damron’s 1980 Address Book, the gay travel guide, printed its own, and Larry Townsend’s Leatherman’s Handbook II included a list in 1983. Some writers credit Townsend’s 1972 first edition, but the list isn’t in it.
• Later: purple, for piercing, was added by Jim Ward of The Gauntlet, and the lists kept growing. By 1993, one safety manual listed 71 coded colours and objects.

Did lesbians use the hanky code?

Yes. In the late 1970s the lesbian collective Samois published its own guide, What Color Is Your Handkerchief?, and in 1984 the magazine On Our Backs printed a women’s version by Gayle Rubin and Patrick Califia (then writing as Pat Califia).

Is the hanky code still used?

Less as a pickup system and more as culture. Even in its heyday only six to eight colours were in wide use, and apps took over the practical job long ago. Today you’ll still see hankies at leather bars, kink events and Pride, and the colours turn up in harnesses, jocks and other gear as a wink to anyone who knows.

How to flag

Fold a bandana into a strip or a triangle and tuck it into a back pocket with enough showing that the colour is clear: left if you top, right if you bottom. Outside a gay bar or a leather event, a bandana in a back pocket usually means nothing more than a bandana, so don’t read too much into one on the street.

Tip: Dressing for a leather night? Our harness guide covers fit and styles, and the bear and leather flags guide tells the story of the leather pride flag.

Sources

1. Hal Fischer, Gay Semiotics (1977), archived text
2. The Saint Foundation: the hanky code in Bob Damron’s Address Book (1980)
3. Wikipedia: Handkerchief code
4. Vestoj: Colour codes, decoding the homoerotic hanky (2022)
5. Metro Weekly: The history of the hanky code (2026)
6. Out: Hanky code colours and their meanings (2024)
7. Feeld: The many histories of flagging (2026)
8. Vice: The mysterious origins of the hanky code (2011)
9. GLBT Historical Society: Alan Selby, Mayor of Folsom Street