Gay+Flag

The first gay flag was made by a man named Gilbert Baker in 1978. Baker lived in San Francisco, California and was an artist. He decided to make a flag that represented the gay community. His inspiration was Betty Ross and he made the flag all himself. To him this was a big accomplishment when the project was finished. The use of his flag began in the year of 1979. The first appearance of the flag was in the San Francisco Gay and Lesbian Freedom Day Parade. On the flag was 8 stripes, each expressing a word that described the community.

The colors on the flag mean:
 * hot pink:** sex
 * red:** life
 * orange:** healing
 * yellow:** sun
 * green:** serenity with nature
 * turquoise:** art
 * indigo:** harmony
 * violet:** spirit

In November of 1979, Paramount Flag Co. started selling the flag because of the assassination of the San Francisco Mayor, George Moscone and as well as an openly gay Supervisor, Harvey Milk. When the flag was sold they had to drop the hot pink stripe because the factory did not have any more of the color. Now, instead of eight, there was seven colors. Later, the colors turquoise and indigo were taken off the flag and replaced with royal blue. The flag that is well known today has six stripes and is a symbol of gay pride.