Who was Gilbert Baker, the creator of the rainbow flag

Do you know the rainbow flag which is a symbol of the struggle of LGBT movement🇧🇷 Because it was created in 1978 by the American artist Gilbert Baker🇧🇷 On June 2, 2017 baker would complete 66 years of age, and for that he was honored by Google with a beautiful doodle cheered up.

Baker was born in the state of Kansas and served in the US Army between 1970 and 1972, which led him to San Francisco, in California, just at the time when the LGBT rights movement was beginning to flourish. After being discharged with honors from the army, baker remained in San Francisco and taught himself to sew.

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Baker was friends with Harvey Milkpolitician and one of the greatest LGBT activists of all time. The artist used his talent to sew banners for marches in favor of LGBT rights and against war, and that’s how they met. The story goes that Harvey Milk was the one who challenged Gilbert Baker to create a symbol of pride for the LGBT community.

The creation of the LGBT Pride Flag

The rainbow-colored flag was created and proudly raised for the first time at the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade in June 25, 1978, a few months before the murder of Harvey Milk, in November of the same year. The politician’s story was told in theaters in 2008, in the film “Milk”starring Sean Pennand Baker was asked to recreate the banners and flags from the era to be used in the film.

The rainbow flag, created by Gilbert Baker, is in the public domain, which is why it can be reproduced so many times. Today, it is a symbol of struggle recognized throughout the world.

How many colors does the rainbow flag have?

There is controversy when it comes to the LGBT pride flag color number🇧🇷 The first version, which Gilbert Baker created, had 8 colors, and each one would have a specific meaning: hot pink would be sex; red would be life; orange would be healing; yellow would be sunlight; green would be nature; turquoise blue would be art; indigo blue would be harmony; and violet would be the spirit. Color diversity would also reflect sexual diversity🇧🇷

But the flag has gone through many reinterpretations over time, and has been made with fewer colors in times when it was difficult to find hot pink fabric, for example. One of the most famous versions has only six colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet. But that doesn’t mean the other combinations are wrong.

Gilbert Baker’s flag records

In 1994, Gilbert Baker, already in New York, sewed a flag 1.6 km long. It was carried by 5,000 people and then laid out on the UN building. At the time, this flag broke the record for the largest in the world. The record was broken by himself in 2003, on the 25th anniversary of the flag – he created a piece 2 km long, which crossed the city of Key West, Florida, from side to side.

Until the end of life, Gilbert Baker fought for the LGBT cause, giving talks about the flag and the movement around the world. He was writing a biography, in which he told the whole story of the flag, but he died on March 31, 2017, without publishing it.