“It completely astounded me that people just got it, in an instant like a bolt of lightning, that this was their flag”
That was what Gilbert Baker, artist, activist, and drag queen, said after the 1978 San Francisco parade, when people, for the first time, held the rainbow flag.
At that time, there wasn’t a clear, strong symbol within the LGBTQ community. Harvey Milk, city supervisor of San Francisco and the first openly gay official in the U.S., was one of many who tried to create a symbol that would represent the LGBTQ+ community.
Milk and Gilbert met after his election to the city’s Board of Supervisors in 1977. And Milk thought that Gilbert would be the best to come up with a new symbol.
Gilbert’s idea was to use rainbow colors to represent the community. He used pink for sexuality, red for life, orange for healing, yellow for the sun, green for nature, turquoise for art, indigo for harmony, and violet for spirit.
In 1978, Gilbert, with the help of other activists, worked together to create the very first Rainbow Pride Flag. To color the fabric, they used large garbage cans filled with colored dye. Then, they took the fabric strips to the roof of San Francisco Gay Community Center to dry, stitched them together, and put the flag on the rooftop of the center.
Baker contracted a company to mass-produce the flag so everyone can use it. Some colors had to be replaced or modified due to production issues, and this modified version is what we know now as the symbol of pride all over the world. The flag has been modified over the years to celebrate the entire spectrum of sexuality and gender identity.
In 2021, Valentino Vecchietti designed the Intersex-Inclusive Pride Flag, a redesign of the 2018 Progress Pride Flag. This version has the elements of the intersex flag that were designed in 2013 by Morgan Carpenter, a yellow space with a purple circle.
The yellow often represents the male/female gender binary. The circle symbolizes wholeness and reflects the need for autonomy and integrity.
“That flag has power, it has meaning, and it gives people hope all around the globe.” That was what Charles Beal, president of the Gilbert Baker Foundation and a friend of Baker’s, once said.
Happy Pride month!
Ask us! What questions do you have about content, strategy, pop culture, lifestyle, wellness, history or more? We may use your question in an upcoming article!
Like MediaFeed’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was syndicated by MediaFeed.co
