Gay flag creator
LGBTQ PRIDE: Gilbert Baker, originator of rainbow flag, shares story of strength and pride
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- As the gay society was rising, then activist Harvey Milk saw the need to create something that would symbolize that community. Milk approached a young artist and sewer from Kansas to fulfill his message of hope.
The rainbow flag started out as a symbol of pride for the same-sex attracted community. The journey to create it started in 1972, when a fresh Gilbert Baker took up sewing after settling in San Francisco.
"I had to look like David Bowie and Mick Jagger every single moment of my life, but I had no money," said Baker. "I had to understand how to sew and to be able to express myself."
RELATED: San Francisco's LGBT community remembers Gilbert Baker
It was Milk who asked Baker to make something that would get the place of the dreadful pink triangle used decades ago by the Nazis to identify homosexuals.
Baker knew it had to be a flag. "Flags are about power," he said. "Flags say something. You put a rainbow flag on your windshield and you're saying something."
Milk paid $1,000 for Baker's work, which started in 1978.
The History of the Pride Flag
With its bright colours and significant definition, the Rainbow Flag is a symbol recognised all over the world to represent the Diverse communities. It’s a symbol of long for, unity and empowerment to allow affection to be adore regardless of gender, ethnicity or labels. But where did this renowned flag come from? And how was the design chosen?
The unique Pride Flag originates from San Francisco Activist Gilbert Baker, who desired to create an emblem of pride for the gay people. In 1978 the Rainbow Flag was created, as Baker recognised that a flag is one of the most significant aspects of identity, and wanted his creation to be a unified symbol of gratification for all those who identify within these communities.
In England, homosexuality was decriminalised in 1967, with Scotland following in 1980, and Northern Ireland by 1982. Before this day, it was illegal to engage in ‘private homosexual acts’, and those caught or believed to be engaging in same-sex relationships could face imprisonment, common shame and a life-long criminal records. Society was homophobic, with those in same-sex relationships organism stripped of their basic freedom to love the p
The Progress Pride flag was developed in 2018 by neutrois American artist and designer Daniel Quasar (who uses xe/xyr pronouns). Based on the iconic rainbow flag from 1978, the redesign celebrates the diversity of the LGBTQ society and calls for a more inclusive society. In 2020, the V&A acquired a bespoke applique version of the Progress Pride flag that can be seen on show in the Plan 1900 – Now gallery.
'Progress' is a reinterpretation of multiple iterations of the pride flag. The original 'rainbow flag' was created by Gilbert Baker in 1978 to honor members of the gay and sapphic political movement. It comprised eight coloured stripes stacked on top of each other to evoke a rainbow, a symbol of long for. Baker assigned a specific meaning to each colour: pink for sex, red for life, orange for healing, yellow for sunlight, lush for nature, turquoise for magic, indigo for serenity and violet for liveliness. A year later the pink and turquoise stripes were dropped owing to a shortage of pink fabric at the time and legibility concerns, resulting in the six-colour rainbow flag most commonly used in the first decades of the 21st century.
Baker's flag was embra
Rainbow flag's creator didn't celebrate his home articulate, but Kansans keep his memory alive
The iced tea is flowing, and the women of Parsons High School’s class of 1969 are on a roll.
A handful of them are circled up at a table in the increasingly crowded fellowship hall of St. John’s Episcopal Church, where yearbooks from 50 years ago are spread out at the front of the room and laughter from aged stories grows louder amid the white cinder block walls and green-and-yellow linoleum-tiled floor. One of the women at the table has purple hair – not the subtle tint of elderly ladies’ salon rinses but the declarative violet in vogue among queer kids.
All of these women have clear recollections of a classmate who got the hell out of Kansas as soon as he could and went on to switch the world.
Gilbert Baker, born in Chanute, Kansas, on June 2, 1951, crafted the rainbow flag, now flown all over the world to signify back for LGBTQ equality and pride.
“He always was into the arts,” one of Baker’s classmates remembers.
“He was a personality unto himself,” says another.
“He was always at our lunch table. He really did notice comfortable with us, and we felt comfortable with
Looking back at the Celebration Flag
This LGBT Pride Month we remember Gilbert Baker, the creator of one of California’s most potent protest symbols
Towards the end of this month, in London, New York and elsewhere, rainbow flags will fly in the street in honour of the city’s Pride celebrations. However, this year that flag’s creator will be unable to join in the celebrations.
The US creator and activist Gilbert Baker, credited with creating the multicoloured flag, died in New York on 31 March 2017, at the age of 65. Rather than mourn his death, many took the opportunity to celebrate his serve , and the way in which his simple, creation was championed and adopted across the globe.
“Despite its proximity to Silicon Valley, San Francisco’s most powerful piece of activist plan is decidedly low tech,” we explain in our new book, California: Designing Freedom. “For the 1978 San Francisco Gay and Lesbian Parade, Gilbert Baker hand dyes and stitches the first rainbow identity flag. The design is inspired by Baker’s admiration for the universality of the rainbow as a ‘natural flag in the sky’.”
Visually, Baker also drew from US flag’s stripes, yet symbolically he understood the impo