Gilbert Baker

It's not so easy to be gay or even a woman in some places in the world, and in many countries, it's illegal to be gay. You can be put to death. It's a global struggle. A human rights struggle on a global scale.

Our movement is evolving. The movement to liberate our sexuality as a human right, that's an ongoing struggle.

In 1978, the first flag was organic everything. It did have eight colors: the six colors of the rainbow we see today plus hot pink and turquoise. But pretty quickly on I realized that I would never be able to satisfy the demand for them by hand-dying fabric and these colors.

When I was young, they thought I was from outer space. I was the only gay person they probably knew, and they struggled with that. Everybody knew I was gay. They just didn't want to talk about it.

Flags say something. You put a rainbow flag on your windshield, and you're saying something.

Flags are about proclaiming power... that visibility is key to our success and to our justice.