We construct a supersymmetric theory of flavor based on the discrete gauge
group (D_6)^2, where D_6 describes the symmetry of a regular hexagon under
proper rotations in three dimensions. The representation structure of the group
allows one to distinguish the third from the lighter two generations of matter
fields, so that in the symmetry limit only the top quark Yukawa coupling is
allowed and scalar superpartners of the first two generations are degenerate.
Light fermion Yukawa couplings arise from a sequential breaking of the flavor
symmetry, and supersymmetric flavor-changing processes remain adequately
suppressed. We contrast our model with others based on non-Abelian discrete
gauge symmetries described in the literature, and discuss the challenges in
constructing more minimal flavor models based on this approach.Comment: 19 pages, ReVTeX, 1 eps figur
