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Some have suggested that it from came the fact that bright colors have long been shorthand symbols for homosexuality. Many journalists and historians have speculated how Baker came up with the rainbow design in 1978.
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So Baker set out to make a fabulous emblem for the gay community, by the gay community. The badge had been stripped of its intended meaning and reclaimed with pride by the gay community, but in Baker’s mind it still bore the ghosts of the Holocaust and Hitler. So too was Baker hypnotized by the old red, white and blue’s ability to transform itself into a centerpiece of art projects and fashion lines.Īs he looked for ways to reinvent that stacked-stripe design, Baker was very aware that any design he came up with would be competing with another, more painful symbol: the pink triangle. He became hypnotized by the power of his own country’s flag - how the stacked bars had become a symbol for many different people from many different places coming together as one. America was struggling to come up with a feeling of patriotism.īaker was encouraged by Milk to come up with a symbol of pride for the gay community that affirmed their social independence. It was the same year as the United States’ 200-year anniversary, and the country was still getting over the removal of US troops from Vietnam in 1973 and the resignation of President Richard Nixon in 1974. So where did the design of the LGBTQ flag come from? According to Baker, he came up with the idea in 1976. From the 24th to the 26th of June, 2016, the LGBTQ flag was flown over the UK Parliament to celebrate London’s Pride Week.On 12 June 2016, it was flown at the first major gay pride rally held in the Ukraine.In 2003 in Key West, Florida to mark the 25th anniversary of the adoption of the flag as a whole.īaker’s flag has been flown outside the US, too:.Once in 1994 in New York to mark the 25th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots that occurred in 1969.The original eight-stripe flag has been recreated at least twice: While the six-stripe flag has been cemented in everyone’s mind as the gay pride flag, Baker was able to recreate his original eight-striped flag for all to see. Almost everyone who has faced similar court cases has won them, defending their rights to display the LGBTQ flag and their support for the gay community. In 1988, Jon Stout sued his landlords in West Hollywood, CA for the right to display the gay pride flag from the balcony of his apartment - a case that he won. Not everyone has been as welcoming of the flag as San Francisco. Anywhere someone might want to show their support for the LGBT community, the flag has been there. It has appeared on mugs, t-shirts, keychains and bumper stickers. Since it was first flown in 1979, Baker’s flag has been a symbol of hope for the gay community. Up and down San Francisco’s main avenue, there were gay pride flags flying from the street lights. The modified version of Baker’s flag was soon flown outside many homes and businesses in San Francisco. The committee chose Baker’s flag, removing the indigo stripe so that they could display three colors down each side of the street all along the parade route. The Gay Freedom Day Committee decided that they needed something to display for the 1979 Gay Pride Parade to show their support for Milk and other gay activists. The killings of Harvey Milk and city mayor George Moscone in November of 1978 shocked and stunned the gay community. Since Baker had hand-dyed the colors, the “hot pink” stripe that he had used at the top of flag was not widely available, so it was removed, reducing the flag to seven stripes. Inspired by the five-striped “Flag of the Races,” Gilbert came up with a design that used eight horizontal stripes.Īfter showing the flag to Milk, Baker approached the Paramount Flag Company of San Francisco about mass-producing the flag. Milk challenged Baker to come up with a symbol of pride for the gay community - something that could be used as positive alternative to the pink triangle used to identify gay people during World War II. Baker was motivated to make the flag by Harvey Milk, the first openly gay public official in San Francisco. The first flag for the LGBT community was designed by Army soldier and artist Gilbert Baker in 1978. Current design is six horizontal stripes – red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple.Original design was eight horizontal stripes in pink, red, orange, yellow, green, light blue, indigo and purple.
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