Gilbert Baker (June 2, 1951 – March 31, 2017) was an American artist, gay rights activist, and designer of the rainbow flag (1978).
Baker’s flag became widely associated with LGBT rights causes, a symbol of gay pride that has become ubiquitous in the decades since its debut. California state senator Scott Wiener said Baker “helped define the modern LGBT movement”.
In 1978, when Gilbert was tasked with creating a flag at the request of Harvey Milk for a gay pride event, he had no idea that the rainbow flag he would create would become the worldwide symbol, forever cementing his place and importance in helping to define the modern LGBTQ movement. The enduring legacy remains and his memoir will give readers great insight into his colorful and fascinating life.
The colors on the Rainbow Flag reflect the diversity of the LGBT community. When Baker raised the first rainbow flags at San Francisco Pride (his group raised two flags at the Civic Center) on June 25, 1978, it comprised eight symbolic colors:
| Hot pink | Sex | |
| Red | Life | |
| Orange | Healing | |
| Yellow | Sunlight | |
| Green | Nature | |
| Turquoise | Magic/Art | |
| Indigo | Serenity | |
| Violet | Spirit |
Thirty volunteers had helped Baker hand-dye and stitch the first two flags in the top-floor attic gallery of the Gay Community Center at 330 Grove Street in San Francisco. Because using dye in public washing machines wasn’t allowed, they waited until late at night to rinse the dye from their clothes, running a cycle with bleach in the washing machines after leaving.
“When it went up and the wind finally took it out of my hands, it blew my mind. I saw immediately how everyone around me owned the flag. I thought ‘It’s better than I ever dreamed.”
The design has undergone several revisions to remove two colors for expediency and later re-add those colors when they became more widely available. As of 2008, the most common variant consists of six stripes, with the colors red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet. Baker referred to this version of the flag as the “commercial version”, because it came about due to practical considerations of mass production. Specifically, the rainbow flag lost its hot pink stripe when Baker approached the Paramount Flag Company to begin mass-producing them, and the hot pink fabric was too rare and expensive to include. The rainbow flag lost its turquoise stripe before the 1979 Gay Freedom Day Parade, as the committee organizing the parade wanted to fly the flag in two-halves, from the light poles along both sides of Market Street, so it became a six-striped flag with equal halves.
Baker died at home in his sleep on March 31, 2017 at age 65, in New York City. The New York City medical examiner’s office determined cause of death was hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Upon Baker’s death, California state senator Scott Wiener said Baker “helped define the modern LGBT movement”.
In Baker’s memory, “NewFest” and “NYC Pride” partnered with the design team “Fontself” to create ‘Gilbert’, a rainbow font inspired by the Rainbow Flag.
Gounder is proud to present its first collection of swimsuits based on its own code and works for free use: the colors of the gay flag and the Gilbert font. Also we are so proud to announce that following the activist spirit of its creators we will donate 5% of the net profits of the collection to the FELGTB Spanish Federation LGTB.
