Showing the Flag in San Francisco
55 years of Pride in the Golden State
June 27, 1970, in San Francisco welcomed the first Pride celebration here, which was called Christopher Street West, a reference to the location of the first “Pride” one year earlier, the Stonewall riots in New York City. I am here to visit my daughter and her husband, but will also be able to mark the 55th anniversary of that first party.
My visit will include a stop at the GLBT Historical Society, which is the home to the first Pride Flag, which contained more colors than the modern version. I will post a picture if I can get one, but the image at the top of this post replicates the colors.
Pink for sex; Red for life; Orange for healing; Yellow for the sun; Green for nature; Turquoise for art and magic; Blue for serenity; Purple for the spirit.
The flag made its debut in San Francisco in 1978 at what was then called Gay Freedom Day. It was created by Gilbert Baker and hand-stitched and dyed with the help of volunteers and friends, including Lynn Segerblom (Faerie Argyle Rainbow), James McNamara, Glenne McElhinney, Joe Duran and Paul Langlotz. Thought to have been lost for over 40 years, the fragment housed by the museum was rediscovered and is the only known surviving remnant of the two inaugural rainbow flags.
Gilbert Baker arrived in San Francisco in 1972 during the early years of the Gay Liberation movement. He quickly became well known for his sewing skills and flamboyant creations, such as drag costumes and political banners for street demonstrations. In 1978, while preparing for that year’s Gay Freedom Day celebration, City Supervisor Harvey Milk (1930–1978) and other local activists appealed to Baker, the co-chair of the Decorations Committee, to create a new symbol for the LGBTQ community to be unveiled at the event in June. Using color to establish meaning, Baker conceived a flag that would empower his “tribe” and a “rainbow of humanity” motif to represent the community’s diversity.
The first 30-feet-high by 60-feet-wide design subsequently underwent several revisions due to cost and display considerations. In 1979 the hot pink stripe was dropped due to the unavailability of flag fabric in this color. Baker also removed the turquoise stripe to create an even number of stripes for display on each side of the streetlamps on Market Street for the 1979 Gay Freedom Day parade. This resulted in the popularly known and still most common six-stripe variant of the flag.
This iconic symbol and its evolution have become an intrinsic part of LGBTQ identity, culture, politics and society. Gilbert Baker worked tirelessly to ensure that the rainbow flag would become a universally recognized, global emblem of the LGBTQ community. And it is!
I often think to myself, how lucky am I to be gay? To me, this community feels like a worldwide sister/brotherhood where everyone is welcome, no one is judged and love is intrinsic. The connection we have through our shared label is profound, for me, anyway. Whether you are gay or not, I hope you are celebrating Pride this month, one way or another!
Days until Trump out of office: 1,304
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