The ‘rainbow flag’ first flew in San Francisco’s United Nations Plaza for Gay Pride Day, on June 25th, 1978.

Created by Gilbert Baker, a friend of Harvey Milk, the original flag featured eight colours – but hot pink and turquoise were dropped from future iterations thanks to a lack of cloth. It was 30ft tall and 60ft wide.

In this episode, The Retrospectors discuss how Baker’s flag usurped a previous gay symbol, subverted from Nazi iconography; reveal the ‘meaning’ of each of the original stripes; and discuss how this radical icon became dragged into corporate culture via ‘pinkwashing’...

Further Reading:

• ‘Original rainbow Pride flag returns to its San Francisco home after 43 years’ (The Guardian, 2021): https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jun/12/original-rainbow-pride-flag-returns-san-francisco

• ‘Gilbert Baker, whose rainbow flag flew over the rise of gay rights, dies at 65’ (The Washington Post, 2017):: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/gilbert-baker-whose-rainbow-flag-flew-over-the-rise-of-gay-rights-dies-at-65/2017/04/01/07becbe8-16e5-11e7-833c-503e1f6394c9_story.html

• ‘History of the Rainbow Flag at Harvey Milk Plaza’ (Gilbert Baker Foundation, 2022): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2R3NAFyHzXI

This episode first premiered in 2023, for members of 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴 - where you can also DITCH THE ADS and get weekly bonus bits, unlock over 100 bits of extra content and support our independent podcast. Join now via Apple Podcasts or Patreon. Thanks!

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The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.

Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Ollie Peart.

Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2024.

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