THE RAINBOW

In the spirit of 48th annual Gay and Lesbian Pride Parade today, we are dedicating our first post to LGBTQ+ community and to Gilbert Baker, the man behind the iconic Rainbow Flag.

Gilbert Baker was both an LGBTQ activist and artist, who was known for helping friends create banners for protests and marches. In 1978 he hand-dyed and stitched together eight strips of vibrantly colored fabric into a rainbow flag. Each stripe carrying its own significance: pink for sex, red for life, orange for healing, yellow for sun, green for nature, turquoise for magic, blue for peace and purple for spirit.

The concept of eight strips of color instantly created an enduring international symbol of gay pride. Gilbert Baker have succeeded to design a positive and celebratory  symbol to bind the growing LGBTQ movement together. 

The flag itself has changed since 1978, going to six colors from eight. Pink fabric was too expensive, Mr. Baker said, so it was removed, and turquoise and blue were combined into one color, royal blue.

Mr. Baker refused to apply for a trademark for his creation. To him, it was his gift to the world and when the flag first went up he knew that it was his life’s work.

On 31 March, 2017, Gilbert Baker sadly passed away. To honor the memory of Gilbert Baker, NewFest and NYC Pride partnered with Fontself to create a free font inspired by the design language of the iconic Rainbow Flag, the font was named 'Gilbert' after Mr. Baker. Downloadable from www.typewithpride.com

Today, we celebrate LGBTQ+ Month with our brothers and sisters and WE TYPE THIS POST WITH PRIDE! But let’s not forget that there are still 76 countries where homosexuality is illegal. Millions of LGBTQ+ people still suffer from human rights violations. 

We shall stay optimistic and continue to focus on how we can change conservative view of Gay Rights and how we can all move forward as a community striving for equal treatment and respect for all.