Thursday 19 June 2014

THE TRUE COLOURS OF RAINBOW FLAG CREATOR GILBERT BAKER



The LGBT Rainbow flag was created by Gilbert Baker in 1978

 
Bugs’ interview with Gilbert Baker originally ran in Daily Xtra.

The Rainbow flag is recognized by millions of people around the world as a symbol of gay liberation. But ask Gilbert Baker – the Rainbow flag creator and veteran American gay-rights activist – how he feels about his international phenomenon and he is quite modest.

Gilbert Baker (Photo via Facebook)
“The first time I saw the rainbow flag on a flag pole was amazing, but what makes a flag a flag is that it’s not mine; it belongs to the people,” Baker says. “It is torn from the souls of the people. So much art is all about branding, but mine – the Rainbow flag – it’s not about me.”

Which is why when people discover who Baker is, the love he gets is pretty much unconditional.

“I’ve been a grand marshal in New York, in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Key West, Vancouver, a lot of cities, and I never get tired of it,” he says. “Each and every time I find it emotional because people exude such love, wave after wave. People love the flag, and as creator of the flag, I get a lot of love.”