Gilbert Baker designed the rainbow flag for the San Francisco Gay and Lesbian Freedom Day Parade on June 25, 1978. Inspired by nature, religion, history, and antiwar activism, the flag was a work of protest responding to New York’s Stonewall Uprising and violence against Baker’s own San Francisco community. “The rainbow came from earliest recorded history as a symbol of hope,” he explains in his memoir, Rainbow Warrior: My Life in Color. “In the book of Genesis, it appeared as proof of a covenant between God and all living creatures. It was also found in Chinese, Egyptian, and Native American history. . . . What I liked about the rainbow is that it fits all of us. It’s all the colors. It represents all the genders. It represents all the races. It is the rainbow of humanity.”

In 2013, Baker produced a limited run of the rainbow flag design using the same materials and natural dyes as his 1978 originals. Each of the rainbow’s dyed stripes represents an aspect of queer experience:

• Pink = sex

• Red = life

• Orange = healing

• Yellow = sunlight

• Green = nature

• Turquoise = magic (later, art)

• Indigo = serenity

• Violet = spirit

Gilbert Baker (American, 1951–2017), Rainbow Flag. Hand-dyed cotton, 2013 (designed 1978). 19 × 35 in. (48.3 × 88.9 cm). Purchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey, 2024.29.