I chose to do this flag today because it cannot be denied that this is a historic day (this was originally written for Facebook on June 26, 2015 when the Supreme Court ruled that gay marriage is a right nation-wide), regardless of one’s opinion on the matter. Now, on to the FUN FLAG FACTS!
Commonly known as the Gay Pride Flag, it was created by San Francisco artist Gilbert Baker in 1978 for the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade. It is believed that the Baker drew inspiration from the Flag of Races, a similarly horizontal-striped flag used in the Hippie movement featuring red, black, brown, yellow, and white stripes to represent different nationalities. Baker reportedly chose rainbow colors having been influenced by Judy Garland’s rendition of “Over the Rainbow”.
The original Gay Pride Flag featured eight colors as opposed to the six-color version we know today. Each color had its own meaning assigned by Baker. Hot pink represented sexuality, red represented life, orange represented healing, yellow represented sunlight, green represented nature, turquoise represented art, blur represented harmony, and violet represented spirit. By 1979, hot pink would be phased out due to fabric unavailability. Later that same year, Indigo and turquoise would be combined into a royal blue, giving us the Gay Pride Flag we know today.
Fun Flag Facts 