Plymouth Mayor's Parade for 30 Years of Rainbow Flag
Tuesday 6th May 2008
The Rainbow Flag, international symbol of diversity and gay pride, will have a 30th anniversary celebration at the city of Plymouth’s Lord Mayor’s Day Parade.
The multicolored flag was first used during a Pride event in San Francisco in 1978. This year it will be spotted at events all across the world, including the parade celebrating Plymouth’s “people and diverse communities” this May 17.
An LGBT group will have a Rainbow Flag theme as their entry in this year’s parade in celebration of the symbol’s 30th birthday. The committee for Plymouth Prideevent has issued an open invitation for anyone and everyone who supports the LGBT community to join its rainbow bedecked float in the parade.
San Francisco designer Gilbert Baker created the flag at the behest of famed gay activist Harvey Milk, who was assassinated later that year.
While today’s flag features 6 stripes, the original flag featured eight: pink, red, orange, violet, yellow, indigo, turquoise and green. It became seven colored stripes later when, according to Baker, “we ran out of pink dye.” It was then shortened to its current violet and pink free form so that it would have an even number of stripes.
Baker has continued to campaign for gay rights and create loads of art based on the flag. He has created the world’s largest rainbow flag twice, most recently a massive flag stretching from the Atlantic to the Gulf of Mexico on Florida’s Key West. Baker receives no royalties for his creation, which like all flags is in the public domain.
The multicolored flag was first used during a Pride event in San Francisco in 1978. This year it will be spotted at events all across the world, including the parade celebrating Plymouth’s “people and diverse communities” this May 17.
An LGBT group will have a Rainbow Flag theme as their entry in this year’s parade in celebration of the symbol’s 30th birthday. The committee for Plymouth Prideevent has issued an open invitation for anyone and everyone who supports the LGBT community to join its rainbow bedecked float in the parade.
San Francisco designer Gilbert Baker created the flag at the behest of famed gay activist Harvey Milk, who was assassinated later that year.
While today’s flag features 6 stripes, the original flag featured eight: pink, red, orange, violet, yellow, indigo, turquoise and green. It became seven colored stripes later when, according to Baker, “we ran out of pink dye.” It was then shortened to its current violet and pink free form so that it would have an even number of stripes.
Baker has continued to campaign for gay rights and create loads of art based on the flag. He has created the world’s largest rainbow flag twice, most recently a massive flag stretching from the Atlantic to the Gulf of Mexico on Florida’s Key West. Baker receives no royalties for his creation, which like all flags is in the public domain.
