THE STORY OF THE
RAINBOW FLAG
Color has long played an important role in our communites' history and expression of pride. In Victorian England, for example, the color green was associated with homosexuality. The color purple ( or, more accuratly, lavander) became popularized for the lesbian and gay communities with "Purple Power." And,of course there are pink and black triangles. The pink triangle was first used by Hitler to identify gay males in Nazi concentration camps, and the black triangle was similarly used to identify lesbians and others deemed "asocial." The pink and black triangle symbols were reclaimed by our communities in the early 1980's to signify our strength of spirit and willingness to survive oppression. As we gain acceptance of our rights, the symbols of repression are gradually being replaced by the symbols of celebration. By far the most colorful of our symbols is the Rainbow flag, and its rainbow of colors - red, orange,yellow,green,blue,and purple, which represent the diversity of our communitys.

The first rainbow flag was designed in 1978 by Gilbert Baker, a San Francisco artist, in reponse to calls by activists for a symbol for the community. Baker used the five-striped "Flag of the Race" as his inspiration, and designed a flag with 8 stripes: pink, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. These colors were intended to represent respectively: sexuality, life, healing, sun, nature, art, harmony, and spirit. Baker dyed and sowed the material for the first flag himself- reminiscent of Betsy Ross and the creation of the U.S. Flag.

When Baker approched a company to mass-produce the flags, he found out that " hot pink" was not commercially available. The flag was then reduced to seven stipes.

In November 1978, San Francisco's lesbian, gay,and bi-sexual community was stunned when the city's first openly gay supervisor, Harvy Milk, was assassinated. Wanting to demonstrate the gay communitys strength and solidarity in the aftermath of the tragedy, the Pride Commity decided to use Baker's flag. The indigo stipe was eliminated so that the colors could be divided evenly along the parade route- three colors on one side and three on the other. Soon the six colors were incorporated  into a six-striped version that became popularized and that today is recognized by the International Congress of Flag Makers.

The flag has become an international symbol of pride and the diversity of our communities.
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