Raising it up and seeing it there blowing in the wind for everyone to see. “It all goes back to the first moment of the first flag back in 1978 for me. He remembers vividly the moment when his new flag was first raised: 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. It is still widely used, often alongside or superimposed upon the Rainbow Flag. The pink triangle, once imposed by Nazis to identify and persecute homosexuals, had been reclaimed in the 70s as a bold symbol of remembrance and action against persecution. 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. Milk, once known fondly as the Mayor of Castro St., had campaigned on a positive message of hope for young gay people, saying, “The only thing they have to look forward to is hope. In 1974, 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. He learned to sew, making all the fabulous 70s clothes that he wanted but couldn’t buy.
After an honorable discharge, he stayed in San Francisco, free to pursue his dreams of being an artist. San Francisco has often been compared to Oz, but Baker didn’t want to click his heels and go back to Kansas. In 1970, a self-described “geeky kid from Kansas” named Gilbert Baker came to San Francisco as an Army draftee. Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.“A true flag cannot be designed - it has to be torn from the soul of the people.” - Unknown Window.FB.Event.subscribe('xfbml.render', function() (document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')) The New York Pride Parade is one of the largest and most well-known parades to take place, with over 2 million people estimated to have taken part in 2019. In May 2019, Donald Trump recognized Pride Month with a tweet announcing that his administration had launched a global campaign to decriminalize homosexuality, although critics have noted that actions speak louder than words. Then, from 2009 to 2016, Barack Obama declared June LGBT Pride Month. President to officially recognize Pride Month in 19.
Sadly, Harvey Milk was assassinated along with Mayor George Moscone on November 23, 1978, in San Francisco City Hall by Dan White, a disgruntled former supervisor who was angry at Milk for lobbying against having him reappointed on the Board of Supervisors.īill Clinton was the first U.S. Speaking of the rainbow flag, it was actually gay politician Harvey Milk who asked a talented designer friend, Gilbert Baker, to design an all-encompassing symbol to take to San Francisco’s Pride March in 1978. This eventually morphed into what we now know as the New York City Pride March and was the catalyst for the formation of similar parades and marches across the world. Known as ‘The Mother of Pride,’ Brenda organized Gay Pride Week and the Christopher Street Liberation Day Parade a year after the Stonewall Riots. Pride Month is largely credited as being started by bisexual activist Brenda Howard. The message was clear - protestors demanded the establishment of places where LGBT+ people could go and be open about their sexual orientation without fear of arrest.
Johnson, leading the movement to continue over six days with protests and clashes. Among the many leaders of the riots was a black, trans, bisexual woman, Marsha P. On a hot summer’s night in New York on June 28, 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay club in Greenwich Village, which resulted in bar patrons, staff, and neighborhood residents rioting onto Christopher Street outside.