Thanks to his sewing skills, Baker was able to stitch together eight pieces of fabric that he dyed himself with help from volunteers. Milk challenged Baker to come up with a symbol that would represent the gay pride community instead of the pink triangle, which was once a symbol used by Nazis to identify and persecute homosexuals. In 1974, Baker met gay civil rights activist and politician, Harvey Milk, and the two developed a close friendship, according to a San Francisco Travel article. In a documentary called “The Gay Betsy Ross,” Baker says he bought his first sewing machine and taught himself how to sew so he could make his own clothes, in the style of his fashion icon, David Bowie. While today, the symbol of the gay community - the rainbow flag - is universally recognizable, it would not have existed without one Army veteran, Gilbert Baker, who found himself stationed in San Francisco at the beginning of the gay rights movement in 1970.īaker, a Kansas-native who was drafted to serve as a surgical nurse, was honorably discharged from the Army in 1972 and decided to stay in San Francisco. Every year in June, cities around the world honor the gay community with events celebrating Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month.
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