Flag

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The parade committee didn't like a flag with seven stripes. They wanted an even number so half the colors could line each side of the street. The turquoise was subsequently removed and the indigo changed to royal blue.

Today, Baker is re-introducing the original design alongside the common six-color version. In 2004 he created flags for all 50 states and U.S. territories using the eightcolor motif as a gimmick to promote LGBT voter participation.

The state flags are not generally mass produced.

Design was never copyrighted

Baker bristles at any suggestion that it's his flag.

"It's our flag," he says, thrilled that it has been interpreted so many ways, including designs for Leather Pride and Bear Pride. The Victory over AIDS flag is a rainbow with a black stripe attached to the violet stripe in memory of those lost to AIDS. When a cure is found, the black stripes are to be removed.

"Go for it. Whatever you want," is Baker's answer to anyone looking to interpret the design.

He has fought to keep the design in the public domain even though it has meant he has never collected any royalties for it.

To ensure that no one else could ever copyright the design, Baker applied for a copyright himself in 2002 so the patent office would have to issue a letter declaring the design public domain.

"I never made money," Baker said. “I always had to struggle to pay the rent."

Baker's second most notable flag design graced the 1984 Democratic National Convention.

"I did it for respect," said Baker. "That way I wasn't just the gay flag guy, and it gave me the ability to be taken seriously and take the rainbow farther. The rainbow flag is my life."

Flag assumes a new meaning

"The flag was born in a moment of celebration, but its meaning began to evolve," Baker said.

The first time it evolved was five months after its debut, when Milk was assassinated in City Hall with San Francisco mayor George Moscone, by former supervisor Dan White. Milk had thought White was a closet case and dangerous. When White resigned, then weeks later asked to be reinstated, Milk opposed it.

White, a former police officer, was backed by conservative business interests. His vote made a majority against Milk and Moscone's progressive city vision. Without White on the board, Milk had the votes to pass his rent control ordinance, angering the realtors White courted.

White disliked Milk and disliked gays. Their animosity toward each other grew. Milk worked on Moscone, telling him that he would lose the gay vote if he reappointed White, and White knew what Milk was doing.

A few days before White killed Milk, Charles Morris, the publisher of a small gay newspaper, ran into White at a political fundraiser.

"There are some in the gay community who think you might be anti-gay," Morris commented to White.

"Let me tell you right now," White replied, "I've got a real surprise for the gay community—a real surprise." He turned and walked quickly away.

On the morning of November 27, 1978, White entered City Hall through a men's room window to avoid metal detectors. He shot Mayor Moscone to death, then loaded his revolver with special bullets for Milk, hollow-tipped rounds that expand on impact. He entered Milk's office and shot him four times, the final shot to the head.

"After that, the flag took on a defiant tone," Baker said. "We were not going back." "I remember where I was when I heard the news,” he added. "I was shopping in HaightAshbury for fabric and I heard it on the radio."

"I ran back to City Hall where a huge crowd was gathering. It was insane. It was

www.GayPeoplesChronicle.com. Pride Guide 2008

wrenching. We saw the bodies get carried out and we couldn't believe it. It was wrenching."

Baker said after a while the crowd left City Hall and went to homes and other meeting places to plan the demonstrations that night and the following days, where the rainbow flag would also be present.

"Other gay people were getting murdered, too," Baker said. "And Milk's murder was a reminder that the violence around us was real and ever-present."

"A few years later, when half my friends died of AIDS, I was more prepared to deal with it," Baker said. "We were aware of death and now about to fight it."

That's when the flag evolved again, according to Baker.

"AIDS was 24/7/365. Gay Pride was one day a year," Baker said.

"There's a grey area between AIDS and gay,” Baker said. “That's why I liked the

ACT UP 'Silence = Death' triangle as a symbol, too."

"The rainbow expresses light, the triangle is dark," said Baker.

Banner is now Baker's life

The rainbow flag has become Baker's life focus. His time is now spent promoting it, and finding new ways to make statements with it.

In 1994, Baker created a mile-long rainbow flag for the 25th anniversary of the Stonewall riots in New York City. He sewed the entire banner himself.

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Recently, he has taken up sailing, and has designed floating rainbow installments along New York's Hudson River.

He also travels.

"The flag has allowed me to experience Gay Pride in other countries," Baker said. "We have old people running the movement here," he said. "It's not like that in

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Europe. It's very different there." "It's not important that young LGBT people know who we were," Baker said. "They have Google for whatever they need to know. It's important that they know who they are, and they do. That's how we move forward."

Baker has also organized a program with Absolute vodka of rainbow specialty items, including a decorative case that fits around their bottles, to raise money for InterPride, the International Association of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex Pride Coordinators. The money will also be used for scholarships.

The website for that project goes up June 11.

Baker gives credit for the rainbow flag's success to all who display it and all who photograph it.

"Gay photographers helped propel the image around the world," Baker said. "Pride is an image. It's not just

an event."

ART IS BACK.

Color is back. Quiet reverence is back. Perfectly, imperfect brushstrokes are back. Seeing things you've only read about,

or studied about, or Googled about are back. Footsteps on marble, they're back. Along with those inspiration seekers toting sketchbooks and charcoal pencils. And the smell of oil on canvas-it's back.

It's all back because art is back. On June 29th, The Cleveland Museum of Art reopens with 19 galleries, 900 works, and as always, no admission charge.

So come back. Because you've been sorely missed. And so have the raised hairs on your neck. And the goosebumps on your arms. Which after one visit, are sure to be back.

THE CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART OPENING JUNE 29 19 GALLERIES: 900 WORKS

CACI

CUYAHOGA ARTS AND CULTURE

Ohio Arts Council A STATE AGENCY THAT SUPPORTS PUBLIC PROGRAMS IN THE ARTS