I thought of the American flag with its thirteen stripes and thirteen stars, the colonies breaking away from England to form the United States. “I looked at the flags flying on the various government buildings around the Civic Center. We all felt that we needed something that was positive, that celebrated our love. It functioned as a Nazi tool of oppression. Adolf Hitler conceived the pink triangle during World War II as a stigma placed on homosexuals in the same way the Star of David was used against Jews. “But it represented a dark chapter in the history of same-sex rights. “At this point, the pink triangle was the symbol for the gay movement,” recalled Gilbert in his memoir, Rainbow Warrior. In 1978, encouraged by friends and colleagues, including San Francisco supervisor and Historical Gay Hero, Harvey Milk, Gilbert began thinking about designing a symbol to be used by the queer political movement. Image A YOUNG G ILBERT B AKER IN DRAG AS “B USTY R OSS”. He used his artistic talent in his political activism – creating banners for anti-war and pro-gay marches and protests, as well as designing and sewing drag costumes for himself and his friends. In the thriving, post-Stonewall counterculture of the city, he found a home and community where he could live as an openly gay man.Īfter completing his military service, Gilbert remained in San Francisco to pursue a career in design. Electing to serve as a medic, Gilbert was stationed in San Francisco, which changed his life. After a year of college, he was drafted into the US Army where he faced, quelle surprise, more severe homophobia. He felt like an outcast in the conservative cloisters of his childhood where he was ostracised for his interest in art and fashion design, as well as his latent homosexuality. Gilbert was born in a tiny rural town in Kansas – just like notable friend of the gays, Dorothy from Wizard of Oz – on 2 June 1951. Image G ILBERT B AKER WITH PORTION OF THE MILE– LONG RAINBOW FLAG ON M ARKET S TREET DURING THE LGBT P RIDE C ELEBRATION IN S AN F RANCISCO J UNE 18, 1995 P HOTO BY M ICK H ICKS. The Rainbow Flag was created in 1978 by Gilbert Baker, a queer artist, designer and political activist, self-described as the “Gay Betsy Ross”. But despite this booming microcosm of gay graphic design, it cannot be disputed that there is no flag more iconic, influential, widespread and universally recognised than the OG Rainbow Pride Flag. We may be living through a golden age for vexillographers (flag-makers) as the combination of divisive online discourse and the exploitation of rainbow capitalism means that every possible micro-variation of queer identity now have their own distinct flag. | By Peppermint | The Art of Resistance – How Sewing is Stitched into Pride’s History words BONNIE LISTON
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