How did the rainbow come to represent gay pride?
Gilbert Baker is the “inventor” of the gay flag. Also known as the rainbow flag or the gay pride flag, the original version Baker conceived of then built with volunteers for the 1978 gay parade had eight stripes – pink, red, orange, yellow, green, turquoise, indigo, and violet. Today, the six-color version of the rainbow flag (pink and turqoise were dropped) is recognized all over the world as a symbol of gay pride. As a side note, Now, with a $3,000 donation from San Francisco’s Castro Street Fair, Baker has remade the 20- by 30-foot flag, which now flies over the Castro in his original eight-color design. However, not everyone is pleased. Some believe the new flag is confusing; others say it’s just plain wrong. But Baker thinks it’s fabulous. “The fuchsia is lovely and very gay, and I find the turquoise quite magical,” he told SF Weekly.
The rainbow flag has become the easily recognized colors of pride for the gay community. The multicultural symbolism of the rainbow is nothing new — Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow Coalition also embraces the rainbow as a symbol of that political movement. The rainbow also plays a part in many myths and stories related to gender and sexuality issues in Greek, Native American, African, and other cultures. Use of the rainbow flag by the gay community began in 1978 when it first appeared in the San Francisco Gay and Lesbian Freedom Day Parade. Borrowing symbolism from the hippie movement and black civil rights groups, San Francisco artist Gilbert Baker designed the rainbow flag in response to a need for a symbol that could be used year after year. Baker and thirty volunteers hand stitched and hand dyed two huge prototype flags for the parade. The flags had eight stripes, each color representing a component of the community: hot pink for sex, red for life, orange for healing, yellow for sun, gree
