The rainbow flag was designed in order to make contrast against the pink triangles used to mark homosexual men during the Nazi regime. Gilbert Baker took this idea and designed the original LGBT rainbow flag.

Gilbert Baker, born June 2nd, 1951, was an artist and a gay rights activist. While in the United States Army, he was stationed in San Francisco at the beginning of the gay rights movement.

According to his website, Gilbertbaker.com, he “created the Rainbow Flag, symbol of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender movement in June 1978.” The flag has been widely associated with the LGBT rights movement and it is a symbol of pride internationally, with millions of people embracing it.

Baker, during his time in San Francisco, became friends with Harvey Milk, a visionary civil and human rights leader who was one of the first openly gay elected officials in the US. “Baker credits Milk for inspiring his work with the message of hope,” states his website.

Continuing his activism for LGBT community, in 1984 in New York, he created the largest flag in celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, which were a series of spontaneous demonstrations by members of the LGBT community against a police raid at Stonewall Inn in New York City. They are considered the single most important event leading to the gay liberation movement and the modern fight for LGBT rights in the United States.

So why is the rainbow used to represent the LGBT community? Historically, gay people used bright colors to symbolize their sexuality. Baker said, “We needed something beautiful, something from us. The rainbow is so perfect because it really fits our diversity in terms of race, gender, ages, all of those things.”

In October of 1979, the first march for lesbian and gay rights took place and in 1988, the World Health Organization held the first World AIDS Day to raise awareness. More recently, in 2015, the Supreme Court ruled that states cannot ban same-sex marriage. Currently, the community is fighting for the transgender bathroom rights. Gradually, being in any part of the community is becoming more and more acceptable.

Although we have not reached complete equality, I believe we will reach to that point at some time. Representation is becoming more and more important.