The Rainbow Flag made its first appearance in San Francisco Gay and Lebian Freedom Day Parade in 1978 . Its symbolism was borrowed from the Hippie and Black civil rights movements. Artist Gilbert Baker from San Francisco , our own gay Betsy Ross , created the flag as a symbol that could be used year after year .
Along with about 30 volunteers , two gigantic prototypes of the flag were hand stitched and hand -dyed. The original flag had eight stripes, with each color representing a particular component of the gay community , hot pink for sex , red for life , orange for healing , yellow for sun , green for nature , turquoise for the Arts, indigo for harmony and violet for spirit .
The following year , as a result of extraordinary demand for the flag . Baker contacted San Francisco Paramount Flag Company to inquire about the possibility of mass producing his flag for use in the 1979 parade . He was surprized to learn that due to production issues and the fact that hot pink was not a readily available commercial color , his original eight colors could not be used . The fact is that he had hand-dyed the original colors . Hot pink was removed from the palette and the flag was reduced to seven stripes , with indigo being replaced by royal blue .
The second change to the flag came after the assassination of San Francisco's openly - gay commissioner , Harvey Milk . To manifest the community's solidarity in the aftermath of this tragedy, the San Francisco Pride Committee elected to use Bakers flag in honour of the slain Milk . The turquoise stripewas eliminated so that the colors could be divided evenly on the parade route , three colors on one side of the street , and three colors on the other side .
original present day
This updated six-color version of the rainbow flag quickly spread from San Francisco to other cities . Soon , it was universally known and accepted as a symbol of gay pride and diversity . And it is recognized offically by the International Congress of Flag Makers as such . During New York's Gay Pride celebration in 1994 , over 10,000 people carried a 30-foot- wide by one- mile- long rainbow flag through the streets of Manhatten , commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots .
In 2004 at the Key West Pride estival , Gilbert Baker unveiled a re-creation of his original eight color flag . Said Baker ," We lost two of the original colors , pink and turquoise . It's time , however ,to restore the original design . First ,it is simply more beautiful and more authentic . Moreover , when we lost the pink , we lost the symbol for our sexual liberation . The missing turquoise honors Native Americans and the magic of life . Both colors are needed to embrace our history .
Each color of the flag was designed to have a different meaning
Red Orange Yellow Green Blue Violet
Life Healing Sun Nature Harmony Spirit
