In 1977, Harvey Milk was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors - making him the very first openly gay person to hold a public office in a major American city. Harvey Milk challenged Gilbert Baker, a Kansas-born artist, to create a symbol of pride for the gay community. A more positive alternative to the pink triangle, which had been used by nazis to identify homosexuals and had been reclaimed by the queer community in the 70s. “The only thing they have to look forward to is hope. And you have to give them hope.” HARVEY MILK Gilbert Baker began work, stitching together eight strips of color into a flag. Hot pink for sexuality, red for life, orange for healing, yellow for the sun, green for nature, turquoise for art, indigo for harmony, and violet for spirit. The community instantly latched onto the flag - it was theirs. When Gilbert Baker reached out to the Paramount Flag Company to produce the flags, the hot pink stripe had to be removed because the fabric wasn’t readily available, which is why you don’t see it on the flag today. However, the birth of the flag has sparked the design of dozens of other flags for the LGBTQ+ community and has evolved to include black and brown to represent people of color and white, pink, and light blue to represent trans, non-binary, and intersex folks, designed by Daniel Quasar. These designs can be seen around the world today. Gilbert Baker designed the original pride flag 1978 U.S Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage 2015 Daniel Quasar re-designed the pride flag 2018
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