During this period, he became friends with Harvey Milk. At the time, the most commonly used image for the burgeoning gay rights movement was the pink triangle, a symbol used by the Nazis to identify homosexuals. The colors used for the flag are pink, blue, and their overlap, which is purple. He used his sewing skill to create banners for gay rights and anti-war protest marches. After his honourable discharge from the military, he worked on the first marijuana legalisation initiative California Preposition, and was taught to sew by his fellow activist Mary Dunn. Upon perceiving similarities between the struggles facing the miners on strike over pit closures and the struggles of his gay community, he formulates a plan to unite the causes. He was posted as a medic in San Francisco at the beginning of the gay rights movement and lived there as an openly gay man. A confident and natural-born leader, Mark is the inspiration behind Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM). Gilbert's work as a flag maker spanned almost four decades and included distinctions for creating two flags that created the world's records for their length.īorn on June 2, 1951, in Chanute Kansas, Baker worked in the United States Army from 1970 to 1972. The rainbow has become a symbol that has even been embraced by. The rainbow flag now waves all over the world as a symbol of the inclusiveness of the LGBTQ+ community. Over the next forty years, his creation would be embraced worldwide as the universal symbol of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) movement. Quasar said in a February 2021 interview, Our community still deals with a lot of stigmas and a lot of racism and a lot of transphobia from within the queer community. World-famous political activist, designer and flag-maker Gilbert Baker was best known for creating the historic Rainbow Flag in 1978. A list of many of the Pride flags in the LGBTQ+ community, and the meaning behind each flag in 2022.