If I look outside my office window right now, I can see rainbow flags billowing in the breeze atop light posts dotting the busy downtown street. They’re raised at the beginning of June as part of the many LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) Pride celebrations and parades around the world during this month. The rainbow flag has been synonymous with gay culture for so long, it’s hard to remember that for a long time, the community had no symbol under which to unite. It wasn’t until artist George Baker’s pioneering efforts in the 1970s took place that the LGBT community and its supporters found comfort, strength, and inspiration in the multicolored banner.
How the Rainbow Flag Came to Be
It all started with a phone call Harvey Milk made in 1978 to San Francisco–based artist Gilbert Baker, who sat on the city’s Board of Supervisors at the time. Not only was Harvey Milk the first openly gay man to hold public office, but he was also a champion of the gay rights movement of the 1960s. He worked relentlessly to further gay rights and was highly respected within the community, so when he requested that his friend Baker come up with a logo for San Francisco’s upcoming Gay Freedom Day Parade (today known as Pride), Baker set to work. “I turned that into the idea of a flag,” Baker told UK Gay News in a 2008 interview honoring the flag’s thirtieth anniversary.
The flag’s story of origin varies depending on whom you consult. Some say Baker drew inspiration from the peace-promoting rainbow flags flown across college campuses in the 1960s. Though the rainbow is now associated mostly with LGBT symbolism, it was used across cultures for multiple purposes years before Baker gave it a new meaning. Others say that the flag comes from Judy Garland’s song “Over the Rainbow.” But regardless of how he came up with it, the community quickly accepted his new design.
Baker’s original model had eight stripes, with each color representing an important element of gay life.
- Pink: sex
- Red: life
- Orange: healing
- Yellow: sunlight
- Green: nature
- Turquoise: art
- Dark blue: harmony
- Violet: spirit
