06/15/2022
This Memorial workout from OUTAthletics .athletics (formerly OUTWOD) is dedicated to Gilbert Baker, an American artist, LGBTQ rights activist, and creator of the rainbow flag. The 6 minutes in the workout represent the 6 colors of the Pride Flag most widely distributed, even though the original flag has 8.
Baker set to work in 1978 to design the symbol for the gay liberation movement. He wanted it to be beautiful, unique, and to speak for itself as representative of the LGBTQ community. The very first pride flag was comprised of eight colorful stripes representing diversity: hot pink (sexuality), red (life), orange (healing), yellow (sun), green (nature), blue (art), indigo (harmony), and violet (human spirit).
With help from volunteers, Baker filled eight metal trash cans with natural dye and organic cotton in the attic of the Gay Community Center in San Francisco and used his sewing machine to stitch together the two initial flags that flew in the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade on June 25, 1978.
In the 1970s, Baker participated in drag shows and joined the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a non-profit LGBTQ advocacy group whose members dress as nuns to bring attention to gender and sexual intolerance. An emerging activist and prominent drag performer, Baker joined forces with Harvey Milk. Baker became Milk’s right-hand flag man, utilizing his drag queen costume sewing skills to design and stitch numerous banners protesting the Vietnam War and supporting gay rights. In fact, when Baker’s very first rainbow flags made their debut, Milk stood beneath them.
An artist until the end, just before his death, he created 39 nine-color flags which included “the eight original colors, plus lavender to represent diversity in order to commemorate the 39th anniversary of the first rainbow flag,” stated in his obituary in the New York Times. On March 31, 2017, Baker died from hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease in his New York City home at age 65. His life is celebrated in the documentary, Rainbow Pride (2003) and his original sewing machine used to create the first flag is on display at the LGBT Historical Society in San Francisco.
