With a thousand yards of cotton, Gilbert Baker began crafting a giant rainbow banner, along with many smaller flags. Each of the rainbow’s eight colours were assigned a meaning, but together became a symbol of empowerment for the world’s lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and trans-gender community.
The flags flew in San Francisco’s Gay Freedom Day Parade that year. Today, the rainbow flag is the most popular symbol of gay pride and the gay rights movement.
“The flags are a visibility tool and the importance of it is the way we use it to proclaim our power,” said Baker yesterday, in town for this weekend’s Pride celebrations. “That visibility is the thread of our strength.”
While he is reluctant to accept praise for the symbol’s creation, he admits that the positive reception has given him strength.
“I’m an artist,” he said. “I have my ups and downs, but when you make something people love, it’s a wonderful feeling,” he said.
Baker will be one of the three grand marshals of Sunday’s Pride parade. Fittingly, this year marks 30 years of both the Vancouver Pride Society and the rainbow flag.
