The result was the six-stripe version of the flag that would become the standard for future production-red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet. To achieve this effect, he dropped the turquoise stripe that had been used in the seven-stripe flag. Aiming to decorate the street lamps along the parade route with hundreds of rainbow banners, Baker decided to split the motif in two with an even number of stripes flanking each lamp pole. also began selling a surplus stock of Rainbow Girls flags from its retail store on the southwest corner of Polk and Post, at which Gilbert Baker was an employee. As Baker ramped up production of his version of the flag, he too dropped the hot pink stripe because fabric in that color was not readily available. In response, the Paramount Flag Company began selling a version using stock rainbow fabric with seven stripes: red, orange, yellow, green, turquoise, blue, and violet. 1978 to 1979 Īfter the assassination of gay San Francisco City Supervisor Harvey Milk on November 27, 1978, demand for the rainbow flag greatly increased. The two flags originally created for the 1978 parade were believed lost for over four decades, until a remnant of one was discovered among Baker's belongings in 2020. The original flag design had eight stripes, with a specific meaning assigned to each of the colors: Hot pink Thirty volunteers hand-dyed and stitched the first two flags for the parade. Segerblom was then known as Faerie Argyle Rainbow according to her, she created the original dyeing process for the flags. The first rainbow flags commissioned by the fledgling pride committee were produced by a team that included artist Lynn Segerblom. '" Baker was likely influenced by the "Flag of the Races" (with five horizontal stripes: red, white, brown, yellow, and black) popular among the World peace and Hippie movement of the 1960s. According to a profile published in the Bay Area Reporter in 1985, Baker "chose the rainbow motif because of its associations with the hippie movement of the Sixties but he notes that the use of the design dates all the way back to ancient Egypt." People have speculated that Baker was inspired by the Judy Garland song " Over the Rainbow" (Garland being among the first gay icons), but when asked, Baker said that it was "more about the Rolling Stones and their song ' She's a Rainbow. Bressan Jr., pressed him to create a new symbol at "the dawn of a new gay consciousness and freedom". Rather than relying on a Nazi tool of oppression, the community sought a new inspiring symbol.Ī close friend of Baker's, independent filmmaker Arthur J. The Nazi regime had used the pink triangle to identify and stigmatize men interned as homosexuals in the concentration camps. Prior to that event, the Pink triangle had been used as a symbol for the LGBT community, despite representing a dark chapter in the history of homosexuality. The original gay pride flags flew at the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade celebration on June 25, 1978. In 1974, Baker met Harvey Milk, an influential gay leader, who later challenged Baker to devise a symbol of pride for the gay community. After an honorable discharge, Baker taught himself to sew. Gilbert Baker, born in 1951 and raised in Parsons, Kansas, had served in the US Army between 19. Six-color version popular since 1979, with royal blue replacing both turquoise and indigo Origin In addition to the rainbow, many other flags and symbols are used to communicate specific identities within the LGBT community. LGBT people and allies currently use rainbow flags and many rainbow-themed items and color schemes as an outward symbol of their identity or support. The flag is typically displayed horizontally, with the red stripe on top, as it would be in a natural rainbow. Although Baker's original rainbow flag had eight colors, from 1979 to the present day the most common variant consists of six stripes: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet. Originally devised by artist Gilbert Baker, Lynn Segerblom, James McNamara and other activists, the design underwent several revisions after its debut in 1978, and continues to inspire variations. Using a rainbow flag as a symbol of gay pride began in San Francisco, but eventually became common at LGBT rights events worldwide. Also known as the gay pride flag or LGBT pride flag, the colors reflect the diversity of the LGBT community and the spectrum of human sexuality and gender. The rainbow flag is a symbol of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender ( LGBT) and queer pride and LGBT social movements.