“It’s beautiful, all of the colors, even the colors you can’t see. “The rainbow is a part of nature and you have to be in the right place to see it,” Baker told CBS. Hoping to represent diversity and acceptance, Baker soon settled on the image of a rainbow. Given Baker’s influential role in the gay community, in 1978 the San Francisco Gay and Lesbian Pride Parade commissioned him to design a new symbol that could be used year after year. He eventually befriended Harvey Milk, the city’s first openly gay elected official.
After being discharged from the Army during the Vietman War, Baker settled in San Francisco, where he taught himself to sew and soon began crafting banners for gay marches and events, CBS Chicago reports. Follow is Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender pride month, and the rainbow flag - that iconic symbol for gay pride - is flying from Athens to San Francisco to Brazil.Įnter artist Gilbert Baker, the man who first came up with the flag’s design some 34 years ago.
