The idea that we’re all of the colours, we’re all of the genders, we’re all of the sexes, we’re all of the races, all of it.
But beyond that, it was “something that is torn from the soul of our people. As Baker recounted, “the second it hit the wind, it changed my life forever.” For Baker, the rainbow flag was always a statement about human rights. The first rainbow flag was raised in 1978. Reflecting on the American bicentennial in 1976, Baker began to think about what kind of symbol might best represent his community. The pink triangle was a badge used in concentration camps to mark those convicted under Paragraphs 174, 175 and 176 of the Reich Penal Code, which outlawed any same‐sex acts of intimacy.īut, Baker reasoned, their movement did need a symbol. It came from Hitler’s regime as part of a code of oppression and murder. For them, the pink triangle was the wrong symbol. Baker, along with many others, rejected the old symbol of the gay community – the pink triangle. Harvey Milk 1, who was a close friend of Baker’s, often called upon him to create banners for protest marches. That’s when San Francisco called.Īfter learning to sew on a friend’s machine, Baker began to make banners – lots of them. But medicine, he discovered, did not allow him to be creative. Drafted into the United States Army at 19, he set his sights on studying medicine. After completing high school, Baker was ready to leave it all behind.
