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But for Baker it represented the achievement of a lifetime and is one of the ways he is remembered after his death. The flag, as public domain, certainly didn’t make him rich, at least in material terms. And despite the flag’s success, Baker faced hard times in his life too: “It hasn’t always been unicorns and glitter,” he explained, as our interview drew to a close. And that becomes a provocative, powerful statement when it’s about our sexuality.”Īlthough the flag gained Baker notoriety and fame, he remained an artist committed to his community. The idea that we’re all of the colours, we’re all of the genders, we’re all of the sexes, we’re all of the races, all of it. But beyond that, it was “something that is torn from the soul of our people. As Baker recounted, “the second it hit the wind, it changed my life forever.” For Baker, the rainbow flag was always a statement about human rights. The first rainbow flag was raised in 1978. Reflecting on the American bicentennial in 1976, Baker began to think about what kind of symbol might best represent his community. Quasars Progress Pride Flag adds five arrow-shaped lines to the six-coloured Rainbow Flag, which is widely recognised as the symbol of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities.
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The pink triangle was a badge used in concentration camps to mark those convicted under Paragraphs 174, 175 and 176 of the Reich Penal Code, which outlawed any same‐sex acts of intimacy.īut, Baker reasoned, their movement did need a symbol.
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It came from Hitler’s regime as part of a code of oppression and murder. For them, the pink triangle was the wrong symbol. Baker, along with many others, rejected the old symbol of the gay community – the pink triangle. Harvey Milk 1, who was a close friend of Baker’s, often called upon him to create banners for protest marches. That’s when San Francisco called.Īfter learning to sew on a friend’s machine, Baker began to make banners – lots of them. But medicine, he discovered, did not allow him to be creative. Drafted into the United States Army at 19, he set his sights on studying medicine. After completing high school, Baker was ready to leave it all behind.