Raising the Rainbow Flag

Each Sunday in June, Danville Congregational Church will raise the rainbow colored flag each week in honor of National Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender Pride Month. The Church Council voted to approve this wonderful opportunity to express our vision and commitment as an open and affirming congregation of the United Church of Christ. But why June and why a rainbow flag? Read on to learn the history behind this international symbol.*

In 1974, Gilbert Baker’s life changed forever when he met Harvey Milk, who showed him “how action could create change.” Three years after they met, Milk was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors—making him the first openly gay person to hold a high public office in a major American city. Milk, once known fondly as the Mayor of Castro Street, had campaigned on a positive message of hope for young gay people, saying, “The only thing they have to look forward to is hope. And you have to give them hope.” After winning the election, Milk challenged Gilbert Baker to come up with a symbol of pride for the gay community—a positive alternative to the pink triangle. (The pink triangle, once imposed by Nazis to identify and persecute homosexuals, had been reclaimed in the 1970s as a bold symbol of remembrance and action against persecution. It is still widely used, often alongside or superimposed upon the Rainbow Flag.)

Inspired, Baker began working on a flag. He dyed the fabrics himself and, with the help of volunteers, stitched together eight strips of brilliant color into a huge banner that spoke volumes: hot pink stood for sexuality, red for life, orange for healing, yellow for the sun, green for nature, turquoise blue for art, indigo for harmony, and violet for spirit. He remembers vividly the moment when his new flag was first raised:

“It all goes back to the first moment of the first flag back in 1978 for me. Raising it up and seeing it there blowing in the wind for everyone to see. It completely astounded me that people just got it, in an instant like a bolt of lightning—that this was their flag. It belonged to all of us. It was the most thrilling moment of my life. Because I knew right then that this was the most important thing I would ever do—that my whole life was going to be about the Rainbow Flag.”

A few of his handmade Rainbow Flags were flown in the 1978 “Gay Freedom Day” Parade in San Francisco (now called San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade). Soon, Baker approached the Paramount Flag Company to mass produce the flags. Alas, fuchsia flag fabric was not readily available, but Paramount began selling a seven-striped version (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet). According to one source, those flags were surplus stock that had originally been made for the International Order of Rainbow for Girls, a Masonic organization for young women, but the Rainbow Flag was already recognized throughout San Francisco as a symbol of gay pride.

On the morning of Nov. 27, 1978, San Francisco received shocking news: Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk had been assassinated at City Hall. Grief and rage galvanized San Franciscans—especially gay activists.

The Gay Freedom Day Committee (now called San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee) quickly decided that the Rainbow Flag should be flown from the streetlight poles along both sides of Market Street for the 1979 Gay Freedom Day Parade. They split the colors onto two flags, flying each of the three-striped flags on alternate sides of the street. They eliminated the indigo stripe to make an even six colors, and flag production began.

*Text adapted from the San Francisco Travel Association: http://www.sanfrancisco.travel/article/brief-history-rainbow-flag