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LGBTQ Pride Flag

The rainbow flag is mostly known as the Gay Pride Flag or LGBTQ Pride flag, the colors reflect the diversity of the LGBTQ community and the spectrum of human sexuality and gender. Gilbert Baker from San Fransico introduced the rainbow flag in 1978 and it became popular as a symbol of the gay community.

Gilbert Baker was born in 1951 and served in the US Army between 1970 and 1972. After an honorable discharge in 1974, Harvey Milk and Baker decided to get a symbol representing the gay community. After four (4) years they came up with the rainbow flag, on 2nd June 1978 in San Francisco the gay pride flag flew on the Gay Freedom Day Parade celebration. According to Bay Area Reporter in 1985, Baker "chose the rainbow motif because of its associations with the hippie movement of the Sixties but he notes that the use of the design dates all the way back to ancient Egypt". Some people believe that Baker was inspired by the "Over the Rainbow" song by Judy Garland who is one of the first gay icons. Baker says otherwise, he claims that it was more about "shes a Rainbow" sung by the Rolling stones

Initially, at its concept, the flag was created with eight colors, the design underwent various revisions but pink and turquoise were removed for production purposes and since 1979 it has consisted of six colored stripes. The colors were  determined to symbolize

Red (Life)

Orange(Healing)

Yellow (Sunlight)

Green (Nature)

Blue (Harmony)

Purple/Violet (Spirit)

The removed colors stood for sexuality (pink) and art/magic (turquoise)

At various times other colors have been introduced to modify the flag design by Gilbert Baker including white-pink-blue for transgender and queer people in 2019.

LGBT people currently use rainbow flags and many rainbow-themed items and color schemes as an outward symbol of their identity or support. In addition to the rainbow, many other flags and symbols are used to communicate specific identities within the LGBT community.