Original Gilbert Baker Rainbow Pride Flag Button
On June 25th, 1978, the first gay pride flags were flown at the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade. Until this point, the pink triangle had been used as a symbol for the LGBT community – despite its relation to an exceptionally dark chapter in the history of homosexuality.
The flag was created by Gilbert Baker—an activist, drag queen, and artist—who described his rainbow-striped design as “something beautiful, something from us… it really fits our diversity in terms of race, gender, ages, all of those things.”
The same day during the parade, two pride banners replaced the United States and United Nations flags hoisted at the United Nations Plaza in San Fran, and the world saw the first LGBQ+ flags.
The different colors of this flag were often associated with “diversity” in the gay community (but actually have literal meanings), including:
- Red for life.
- Orange for healing.
- Yellow for sunlight.
- Green for nature.
- Blue for harmony/peace.
- Purple for spirit.
- Pink for sexuality.
- Turquoise for art/magic.
Pink and turquoise were removed for production purposes, and the six-band variant, now simply known as the “Gay pride” flag, has been the most well-recognized symbol of the LGBT movement since 1979. It has been built on for them at various times, including with the addition of black-and-brown for people of color in 2017 for the Philadelphia Pride Flag, and white-pink-blue for transgender and queer people in 2018 for the Pride Progress flag.
The original LGBTQ+ flag, a segment of the original Gilbert Baker rainbow flag, was recently rediscovered and donated to San Fransisco’s GLBT Historical Society Museum and Archives.
Product Information
Buttons are a 2.25" sturdy steel pinback buttons with a mylar covering over a HP Premium 32 paper print of a button pattern. Return and Refund Policy
We want you to be satisfied with your purchase from Hommel's Buttons. Please be sure of your selection of buttons as we will not be able to complete refunds once the order has been placed. If a product is damaged upon delivery, contact support to let us know and we will replace it. Shipping Information
We ship USPS first-class mail. Postage is determined by the USPS retail postage price calculator. Estimated delivery time is 3-5 business days. Our buttons are only sold in the United States.
