Originally hand-stitched and hand-dyed with eight colors - pink, red, orange, yellow, green, turquoise, blue, and purple - the rainbow flag became much more than a simple reaction to homophobic behavior. In 1978, though, a gay artist and civil rights activist Gilbert Baker, alongside the Grove Street gay community in San Francisco, made the first rainbow pride flag as a response to an anti-gay community that began using the pink triangle the Nazis used to identify gay individuals. You know the Pride flag well, but what is the meaning of the rainbow flag? Its history is as interesting as it is colorful.įrom peace movements to political parties, the rainbow flag has been the symbol of dozens of historical and cultural organizations. You've seen it on buildings, bumper stickers, and front lawns, and you've waved one at parades, rallies, and protests.