"Their faces lit up, and without any explanation at all, everyone knew immediately this was our flag," Jones recalled.Ĭity officials lowered the rainbow flag that billows over the entrance to City Hall to half-mast Friday in honor of Baker. The FBI Decided a Teen Wasn't a Threat Before He Carried Out a 2017 School Shooting The crowd observed a moment of silence, and supporters carried a giant rainbow flag inscribed with the words "resist" and "rise."įellow activist and longtime friend Cleve Jones said the community first flew the flag during the city's annual Pride parade almost 40 years ago. "He had hand-sewn 39 of these flags to commemorate the 39th anniversary of the creation of the Rainbow Flag, with plans for them to be displayed in San Francisco in June," a press release said.ĭozens flocked to a vigil for Baker Friday night at Castro and Market streets in San Francisco, honoring him under a rainbow flag in the Castro district, one of the first gay neighborhoods in the country. Just days prior to his death, Baker had finished sewing what would be his last rainbow flag. The artist never patented the flag, saying instead that it was his gift to the world. The flag has since come to represent inclusion and safety for the gay community worldwide. He was 65.īaker sewed the original rainbow flag in 1978 after his friend, then-San Francisco city supervisor Harvey Milk, asked him to use his skills to make banners for gay and anti-war street protests.
![original gay flag rbg original gay flag rbg](https://www.flagcolorcodes.com/data/pride-flag-200x124.png)
Gilbert Baker, the artist and civil rights activist who created the iconic rainbow symbol for the gay rights movement, died of natural causes in New York City Friday.