How The Rainbow Came To Represent Hope

The rainbow flag, AKA the gay pride flag, the LGBT pride flag, or simply the pride flag, is a symbol of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) pride and social movements. The colors reflect the diversity of the LGBTQ community and have a massive presence during LGBTQ rights marches. While this use of the rainbow flag originated in San Francisco, it is now being used worldwide to spread the message of positivity.
LGBTQ members and allies use this rainbow flag and rainbow-themed items and color schemes as an outward symbol of their identity or to show support.

In 1970, Gilbert Baker of Kansas, USA came to San Francisco as a military draftee. After an honorable discharge, he stayed in San Francisco, to pursue his dreams of becoming an artist. In 1974, Baker met Harvey Milk, who taught him “how action could create change.” Milk was the primary openly gay person to carry a high position in a major American city. His campaign focused on the message of hope for young gay people, saying, “The only thing they need to seem forward to is hope. And you've got to offer them hope.” After winning the election, Milk challenged Gilbert Baker to return up with a logo of pride for the gay community – a positive alternative to the pink triangle.

The pink triangle, once imposed by Nazis to spot and persecute homosexuals, had been reclaimed within the 70s as a bold symbol of remembrance and action against persecution. it's still widely used, often alongside or superimposed upon the Rainbow Flag.
In 1978, Gilbert Baker designed the primary rainbow flag. Later in an interview, he stated that as gay people, it's our duty to be visible, and having a flag as a logo to present the community may be a perfect fit, because that’s how of proclaiming your visibility.

The first-ever rainbow flag was flown on June 25, 1978, for the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day parade. They were handcrafted by Baker and his team of volunteers. However, to make it easy to mass-produce, the pink and turquoise stripes were removed and indigo was replaced by basic blue, which resulted within the contemporary six-striped flag (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet). Today this is often the foremost common variant of the rainbow flag, with the red stripe on top, as during a natural rainbow. the various colors reflect both the range and therefore the unity of the LGBTQ community.

It was not until 1994 that the rainbow flag was truly established as the symbol for LGBTQ pride when Baker made a mile-long version for the 25th anniversary of the Stonewall riots. Now the rainbow flag is recognized as an international symbol for LGBTQ pride and can be seen flying proudly, during both the promising times and the difficult ones, all around the globe.

By: Deeksha Goyal

Content- https://www.sftravel.com/article/brief-history-rainbow-flag