Before 1978, the pink triangle was the symbol for the gay rights movement. In 1978, Harvey Milk commissioned Gilbert Baker to design a flag for the Gay Freedom Day Parade, resulting in the original eight-color rainbow flag representing the union. The current six-color rainbow flag is recognized worldwide as a positive representation of the LGBT community. Harvey Milk was the first openly gay person elected to public office in California and tragically, he and the San Francisco Mayor were assassinated five months after the rainbow flag’s debut.
Prior to 1978, the most common visual representation of the gay rights movement was a pink triangle, a symbol that had been used by the Nazis to identify homosexuals and later claimed by the gay community. However, in 1978, San Francisco politician Harvey Milk commissioned artist Gilbert Baker to design a flag for the city’s annual Gay Freedom Day Parade. Although it has undergone some changes, Baker’s original eight-color rainbow flag was intended to represent the union. In Baker’s original design, hot pink represented sex, red was for life, orange for healing, yellow for sunlight, green for nature, turquoise for art, indigo for harmony and violet for spirit.
Read more about the rainbow flag:
A similar rainbow flag was often seen on college campuses in the 1960s. The flag was meant to represent world peace during the anti-war movement.
The current rainbow flag, which typically has only six colors, is recognized around the world as a positive representation of the LGBT community.
Harvey Milk made history as the first openly gay person to be elected to public office in California. In 1977, he won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Tragically, just five months after the rainbow flag’s debut, Milk and San Francisco Mayor George Moscone were assassinated by a disgruntled former colleague.
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