Gilbert Baker was born in Kansas in 1951 and years later arrived in San Francisco. He came out in the early 70s and met gay activist icon, Harvey Milk, who inspired him to get involved. Baker was known for creating bold and colorful banners for gay protests and events and Milk convinced Baker to create a flag design for the growing gay movement.

As the gay movement was taking shape in 1978, the Rainbow Flag served as a rallying cry to fight the anti-gay rhetoric of Anita Bryant. Originally designed as an eight-color striped flag by Baker, it was reduced to a seven-striped flag because hot pink was not available for mass production. One year later, it lost the color indigo in memory of Harvey Milk's death.

Today, the six-color flag is recognized by the International Congress of Flag Makers as the official gay pride flag.

This Rainbow Minute was read by Dustin Richardson.