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This is a special report for Pride Sunday 2021. 43 years ago, this weekend, the very first rainbow Pride flag, designed by San Francisco artist Gilbert Baker, was raised on the flagpoles at UN Plaza as part of the annual pride celebration. The original flag was made by Baker and some friends with hand-dyed pieces of fabric in 8 different colors. The original flag was thought to be long gone, until now. Charles Beal, a close friend of Gilbert Baker’s and now executive director of the Gilbert Baker Foundation, discovered a remnant of the original rainbow flag in an old box of memorabilia he got from Baker’s sister. After authenticating the piece of flag, Beal contact the GLBT Museum where Gilbert had said he wanted his collection of flags to be donated. A ceremony accepting the historic piece of flag was held earlier this month at the GLBT Museum where it is now on public display.
Learn more at gilbertbaker.com and glbthistory.org
(Photo: Benson Kua, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
