The design came particularly handy as a victory banner after the historic decision of the Supreme Court to allow same-sex marriage in the US last week. Though versions of the rainbow flag are used by other causes, like the peace movement in Italy or as a symbol for the native peoples of the Andes region in South America-and there are other symbols in use like the transgender pride flag-but Baker’s Americana-inspired rainbow flag design remains the representative banner for LGBT people around the world. “We threw Clorox in afterwards hoping that the next customers weren’t walking out of there with pink underwear!”
“We wait until everyone is gone late at night and run into a Laundromat and fill every machine with quarters and blast them all-and every color of the rainbow,” recalled Baker gleefully. The original pink, blue, and white striped flag that Monica Helms sewed together in Macon, Georgia, in 1999 now hangs in Washington D.C. Baker and his conspirators even finished the dye process in a public laundromat, against regulations. Monica Helms & the transgender pride flag. He had about 30 volunteers to help him dye, stitch, and iron the cotton fabric for the original flags. Born in rural Kansas, Baker mastered sewing by making his own drag costumes.
