--- title: Gilbert Baker Obituary: Rainbow LGBTQ Pride Flag Designer description: "He was moved by the idea that it is not only a natural phenomenon but one you have to be in the right place at the right time to see" canonical: https://time.com/4728310/gilbert-baker-baker-rainbow-flag-lgbtq/ author: Matt Vella article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-04-06T10:07:12.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T04:15:09.972Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Obituary: Gilbert Baker, Who Designed the Rainbow LGBTQ Pride Flag og:description: It had to belong to everyone og:url: https://time.com/4728310/gilbert-baker-baker-rainbow-flag-lgbtq/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8c9a1b2e979936c9/6988c19e656a3f2616bcf6f7/gilbert-baker-rainbow-flag-artist.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1836 og:image:height: 1033 og:image:alt: Gilbert-Baker-Rainbow-flag-artist og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Obituary: Gilbert Baker, Who Designed the Rainbow LGBTQ Pride Flag twitter:description: It had to belong to everyone twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8c9a1b2e979936c9/6988c19e656a3f2616bcf6f7/gilbert-baker-rainbow-flag-artist.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Gilbert Baker, Who Designed the Rainbow LGBTQ Pride Flag > Sponsored content. 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A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. by [Matt Vella](https://time.com/author/matt-vella/) ## Matt Vella Apr 6, 2017 10:07 AM UTC  Baker helps stretch the world’s longest rainbow flag in 2003 Baker helps stretch the world’s longest rainbow flag in 2003 Mike Hollar—Florida Keys News Bureau/Getty Images by [Matt Vella](https://time.com/author/matt-vella/) ## Matt Vella Apr 6, 2017 10:07 AM UTC When does a symbol belong to everybody? [Gilbert Baker](http://time.com/4721931/gilbert-baker-rainbow-flag-dead/), a Kansas-born artist, intended to answer that question some four decades ago when he began designing the [rainbow pride flag](http://time.com/3932733/rainbow-flag-lgbt-pride-same-sex-marriage/) that eventually became a global [LGBTQ](http://time.com/4544704/why-lgbtq-will-replace-lgbt/) icon. Baker served in the U.S. Army in the early 1970s before being honorably discharged and settling in San Francisco as the gay-rights movement flourished. He taught himself to sew and began making banners for protests and celebrations. He befriended Harvey Milk, the city’s first openly gay elected official. And in 1978 he was commissioned to design a new symbol for the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade that could be used year after year. Baker settled on the rainbow. He was moved by the idea that it is not only a natural phenomenon but one you have to be in the right place at the right time to see. Its beauty, he said years later, lies in the fact that it is composed of the colors you perceive as well as those you can’t. And the design was in the public domain, thus allowing the flag to be infinitely reproduced. It had to belong to everyone. Flags usually tell us where we come from and who we are. 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