The rainbow is a symbol and celebration of the diversity of genders and sexual orientations. Later the remaining seven colors were eventually dropped to six with the exclusion of indigo to keep the number of colors even. Baker’s original flags were hand-made and had 8 colors, but when the flag’s popularity demanded mass production pink had to be dropped because it wasn’t commercially available. Hippies are sometimes associated with the rainbow because of its use during peace rallies in the 1960s and 1970s. Rainbows are also used the world over as as a sign of diversity, inclusiveness, and hope and rainbow flags have appeared all over history from the Inca Empire to Italy’s cooperative movement and during the German ‘Peasant’s War’ ( Conradt, 2011 )īut the rainbow flag known internationally today first appeared in San Francisco in 1978. Gilbert Baker was commissioned to design a flag for gays to hold high in that year’s pride parade and his original design included 8 colors, each with a different intended meaning.Īfter the 1978 assassination of Harvey Milk, an openly gay politician in San Francisco, the flag became a symbol of solidarity. The rainbow is still being used by some Christian groups in their iconography ( Wickman, 2012 ) The rainbow is mentioned in the Bible as a symbol of peace and promise from God to Noah that there would never again be a great flood.