![new gay flag 2017 new gay flag 2017](https://zone1-ibizaspotlightsl.netdna-ssl.com/sites/default/files/styles/embedded_auto_740_width/public/article-images/128571/embedded-1498042470.jpg)
![new gay flag 2017 new gay flag 2017](https://gdb.voanews.com/E46937EA-7162-47B7-AB43-30D8AE56A6BC_cx0_cy9_cw0_w408_r1_s.jpg)
![new gay flag 2017 new gay flag 2017](http://images.uncyclomedia.co/eincyclopedia/he/3/32/Gay_flag.jpg)
This was the symbol that the Nazis used to mark people who were sent to concentration camps for their homosexuality and other supposed sexual deviancy. The flag was meant to replace an earlier symbol for gay people with horrific roots: the pink triangle. So how did Baker come up with the flag, and what does it mean, anyway? Google’s timing is notable: Not only is it LGBTQ Pride Month, but Baker died earlier this year, on March 31. Sean Penn portrayed Milk.This Friday’s Google Doodle is honoring Gilbert Baker’s 66th birthday.īaker is someone most people likely aren’t familiar with, even though they’ve probably seen his work many, many times - particularly in the next 28 days as the world celebrates LGBTQ Pride Month. In 2008, Baker returned to San Francisco to recreate his original banners from the 70s for the Academy Award winning film "Milk," CBS Chicago reported. A rainbow is something in the sky, so a rainbow flag fits," Baker told WBBM Newsradio in 2012. "I think the Rainbow Flag will survive forever, primarily because it's the perfect flag, regardless of whatever political meaning it may have or evolve to. It has appeared on just about every surface imaginable, from underwear to dog collars. The Rainbow Flag is in the public domain, which has allowed endless commercial reproduction. The banner measured 30 feet by 5,280 feet and was carried by 5,000 people, his website said. Upon moving to New York City in 1994, Baker created a mile-long Rainbow Flag to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots in Greenwich Village in 1969, his website said. When the Paramount Flag Company went out of business in 1987, Baker created flags for numerous events in San Francisco – including street displays for the city's pride parade, his website said.īaker also went on perfecting and popularizing the Rainbow Flag as it became an in-demand item around the world, and created an assortment of fine art celebrating the flag and the LGBT community, his website said. She commissioned Baker to design flags for her inaugural, and he went on to create flag displays for visits from such dignitaries as the Premier of China, the President of France, the President of the Philippines, and the King of Spain, his website said.īaker also designed the flags for the 1984 Democratic National Convention, his website said. He went to work in 1979 for the Paramount Flag Company in San Francisco, where his window displays drew the attention of Mayor Dianne Feinstein, according to his website. "The Rainbow Flag is like other flags in that sense, it belongs to the people."īaker also did design work on numerous other flags. A flag is something that everyone owns and that's why they work," Baker told the station in 2012. A true flag is torn from the soul of the people. "A true flag is not something you can really design. Baker told WBBM Newsradio in 2012 that he was proud of his creation, but humbled by its status as the flag of a worldwide movement. The Rainbow Flag went on to become the international symbol of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender movement and is arguably one of the most recognizable symbols in the world. We are all the genders, races and ages," Baker told Steve Grzanich of WBBM Newsradio in Chicago in 2012. That really fit us as a people because we are all of the colors. "It's beautiful, all of the colors, even the colors you can't see. "The rainbow is a part of nature and you have to be in the right place to see it," Baker said. Indigo would later be removed so that the flag would have an even six stripes, CBS Chicago reported. Pink had to be dropped because at that time, it was not a commercially available color.