On Saturday afternoon March 19th while discussing the topic of Pride on a roundtable with QueerPublicRadio.com we touched on the subject of the Rainbow Pride Flag.
The flag was created by Gilbert Baker an activist/artist born in 1951 often referred to as the Gay Betsy Ross, he was discharged from the ARMY in 1972 and shortly after took up sewing. Gilbert was often asked to make banners for protest and gay pride marches. Gilbert was friends with Harvey Milk whom he had first met in the mid 1970′s
First raised in San Francisco, California on June 25, 1978 the original flag contained eight colors.
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Hot Pink: sexuality
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Red: life
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Orange: healing
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Yellow: sunlight
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Green: nature
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Turquoise: magic/art
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Blue (indigo): serenity/harmony
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Violet: spirit
This is the original 1978 color layout for the Pride flag (Hot Pink & Turquoise were removed before production began on the flags, because of the unavailability of those two colors). The flag we use today is the commercial version with only six stripes.
*vexillographer
Pronunciation: (vek”su-log’ru-fur),
a person who designs or makes flags.
The Gay Betsy Ross, Courtesy of IN THE LIFE. Thank you
HOMOVISION: Gilbert Baker and the Rainbow Flag, Courtesy of homovisiontv. Thank You