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The rainbow flag , commonly the gay pride flag and LGBT pride flag , is a symbol of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender(LGBT) pride and LGBT social movements. (Other uses of rainbow flags include a symbolof peace.) The colors reflect the diversity of the LGBT community, and the flag is often used as a symbol of gay pride when it comes to LGBTQ+ rights marches. It originated in Northern California, but is now used worldwide.
Designed by San Francisco artist Gilbert Baker in 1978, the design has undergone several revisions to first remove then re-add colors due to widely available fabrics. As of 2008, the most common variant consists of six stripes, with the colors red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet. The flag is commonly flown horizontally, with the red stripe on top, as it would be in a natural rainbow.
Gilbert Baker, an openly gay activist born in 1951, grew up in a small Kansas town, and went on to serve in the US army for about two years in 1970. After an honorable discharge, Gilbert taught himself to sew. In 1974, Baker met Harvey Milk, an influential gay leader, who three years later challenged Baker to come up with a symbol of pride for the gay community. The original gay pride flag flew in the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade on June 25, 1978. It has also been suggested that Baker may have been inspired by Judy Garland's singing "Over The Rainbow" and the Stonewall Riots that happened a few days after Garland's death (she was one of the first gay icons).
Another suggestion of how the rainbow flag originated is that at college campuses during the 1960s, some people demonstrated for world peace by carrying a Flag of the Races (also called the Flag of the Human Race ) with five horizontal stripes (from top to bottom they were red, white, brown, yellow and black). Gilbert Baker is said to have gotten the idea for the rainbow flag from this flag in borrowing it from the hippy movement of that time largely influenced by pioneering gay activist Allen Ginsberg. The flag originally consisted of eight stripes; Baker assigned specific meaning to each of the colors:
Color | Meaning | |
---|---|---|
Hot pink | Sexuality | |
Red | Life | |
Orange | Healing | |
Yellow | Sunlight | |
Green | Nature | |
Turquoise | Magic/art | |
Indigo/blue | Serenity/harmony | |
Violet | Spirit |