The first openly gay elected official in San Francisco’s history, City Supervisor, Harvey Milk, requested of his friend, artist Gilbert Baker to design a universal symbol of gay pride.
Later in an interview Baker stated, “Our job as gay people was to come out, to be visible, to live in the truth, as I say, to get out of the lie. A flag really fit that mission, because that’s a way of proclaiming your visibility or saying, ‘This is who I am!’” Baker saw the rainbow as a symbol of peace and love from the sky, so he adopted eight colors for the stripes, each color with its own meaning (hot pink for sex, red for life, orange for healing, yellow for sunlight, green for nature, turquoise for art, indigo for harmony, and violet for spirit). The first Pride flags were hand made by Baker and a group of volunteers and debuted at the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade celebration on June 25, 1978.
Over the years there have been many different variations of the Pride flag, but the meaning behind the colors stays the same, love for yourself and your fellow man. That meaning seems to get lost in all the recent controversy regarding the LGBTQ communities’ usage of the rainbow in its Pride Flag. After 45 years some conservative groups are now calling on supporters to “take the rainbow back”.
As we wrap up Pride I would like to remind our readers that no one owns this symbol, and anyone can use it however they like. We use rainbows in everything from clothing to cocktails and a group of people trying to give hope to others shouldn’t be a controversial topic.
TASTE THE RAINBOW
1 oz. (30ml) Grenadine
1/2 oz. (15ml) Peach Schnapps
1 1/2 oz. (45ml) Pineapple Juice
1 oz. (30ml) Vodka
1/2 oz. (15ml) Blue Curaçao
Garnish: Orange Slice, Cherry
PREPARATION
1. Pour some Grenadine into the base of a glass and slowly spoon in some ice cubes. Set aside.
2. In a shaking glass with ice, combine peach schnapps and pineapple juice. Shake well.
3. Slowly pour over grenadine, filling almost to the top.
4. In a separate shaking glass with ice, combine vodka and blue curaçao. Shake well and carefully layer on top.
5. Garnish with an orange slice and a cherry.