19 Best Quotes from Gilbert Baker, Creator of the Rainbow Flag

Gilbert Baker was an artist and LGBTQ+ rights activist renowned for creating the iconic Rainbow Pride Flag — a symbol of celebration and diversity for the LGBTQ+ community.

(Baker also created an earlier version of the flag, now referred to as the Gilbert Baker Pride Flag)

Beyond his most famous work, Baker was also a vocal advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, using his voice and art to push for equality and challenge societal norms.

Baker died in 2017, but his words continue to resonate — inspiring a new generation of activists and community members who see the Rainbow Flag as a symbol of their struggles, hopes, and dreams.

In this collection, we’ve gathered a selection of Gilbert Baker’s quotes that capture his spirit and the essence of his activism.

Whether you’re part of the LGBTQ+ community or an ally, Baker’s insights offer a powerful perspective on love, identity, and the fight for equality.

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The Best Quotes from Gilbert Baker

“We needed something to express our joy, our beauty, our power. And the rainbow did that.”
— Gilbert Baker

“What the rainbow has given our people is a thing that connects us.”
— Gilbert Baker

“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.”
— Gilbert Baker

“I think the Rainbow Flag will survive forever, primarily because it’s the perfect flag, regardless of whatever political meaning it may have or evolve to.”
— Gilbert Baker

“Flags say something. You put a rainbow flag on your windshield, and you’re saying something.”
— 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.”
— Gilbert Baker

“They had a whole code of emblems that they used to oppress people, and we needed something to answer that.”
— Gilbert Baker

“I came out because I fell in love. It wasn’t a terrible, horrible, damn thing. I was in love with somebody, and I wanted to scream it from the rooftops.”
— Gilbert Baker

“The rainbow flag is beautiful because it’s about love. The Confederate flag is ugly because it’s about hate. It’s pretty simple from the art level: beautiful versus ugly.”
— Gilbert Baker

“A true flag is not something you can really design. A true flag is torn from the soul of the people. A flag is something that everyone owns, and that’s why they work. The Rainbow Flag is like other flags in that sense: it belongs to the people.”
— Gilbert Baker

“You don’t have to live a lie. Living a lie will mess you up. It will send you into depression. It will warp your values.”
— Gilbert Baker

“When I fell in love, all the shame and guilt I carried with me for years suddenly vanished.”
— Gilbert Baker

“Our movement is evolving. The movement to liberate our sexuality as a human right, that’s an ongoing struggle.”
— Gilbert Baker

“In 1978, when I thought of creating a flag for the gay movement, there was no other international symbol for us than the pink triangle, which the Nazis used to identify homosexuals in concentration camps. Even though the pink triangle was and still is a powerful symbol, it was very much forced upon us.”
— Gilbert Baker

“Flags are about proclaiming power… that visibility is key to our success and to our justice.”
— Gilbert Baker

“I love going to cities around the world and seeing the rainbow flag, knowing that it’s a safe place where I can be myself.”
— Gilbert Baker

“The rainbow is a part of nature, and you have to be in the right place to see it. It’s beautiful, all of the colors, even the colors you can’t see. That really fit us as a people because we are all of the colors. Our sexuality is all of the colors. We are all the genders, races, and ages.”
— Gilbert Baker

“In most of the world, it’s still not cool to be gay. You can be murdered in these places. You can be thrown in jail. Being gay in San Francisco is fun. Being gay in Saudi Arabia — that’s a whole other matter.”
— Gilbert Baker

“The rainbow flag is a symbol of freedom and liberation that we made for ourselves.”
‍— Gilbert Baker