Instead, he chose the rainbow as a natural symbol for love, beauty and hope. At the time, the most common symbol for the emerging gay rights movement was the pink triangle, an image used by Nazis to brand homosexuals.īaker wanted to steer away from a symbol that was associated with such a dark and horrific history. Interestingly, Baker was commissioned to design the flag for San Francisco’s annual pride parade by another gay icon – one of the first openly-gay politicians, Harvey Milk. The first pride flag was designed in 1978 by artist Gilbert Baker, a Vietnam War veteran and a drag performer at the time. We also want to take a look at a few of the other LGBTQ+ flags designed over the years and explore what each of them stands for. For Pride 2022, we want to look at the origin of the flag and trace some of the significant events that shaped its history. Over the decades there have been new avatars of the flag, to accommodate more communities and groups within its fold.
The pride flag is now in its 44 th year and continues to stand as a unifying emblem for the LGBTQ+ community. You're an a**hole.’ – Morgan Freeman.Įvery June the iconic rainbow flag is waved and paraded by communities around the world as a universal symbol of love, tolerance and inclusivity.
