In 1978, the LGBT community was a nation in need of a flag, and Gilbert Baker, living in San Francisco trying to make a living as an artist, befriended the mayor of San Francisco, Harvey Milk, and took up the cause.
What struck Baker was that many flags, like the French tricolour and the American flag, owed their beginnings to a riot, a rebellion, or a revolution. Through history, sexuality was communicated covertly via brightly colored clothing and accessories: the pink triangle identified homosexual males in Nazi Germany; Oscar Wilde wore a bright green carnation. The pink triangle had come to symbolize Nazi oppression. Baker felt the LGBT community needed something positive: a symbol celebrating love. So, he taught himself to sew and with 30 volunteers, hand-stitched two flags for the San Francisco Gay Freedom Celebration, unveiled his design: an eight color rainbow flag.
A few months later, Harvey Milk was assassinated. Demand for the flag that symbolized the inclusive love Harvey Milk had embodied was now everywhere.
A year later it was redesigned into the now familiar six stripes for easier production. Meaning was assigned to each color: red for life, orange for healing, yellow for sunlight, green for nature, blue for serenity, and violet for spirit.
As the queer community movement has metamorphosized, their flag stable has evolved to embody all repressed groups: the Bisexual flag debuted in 1998, followed by the Pansexual flag, the Asexual flag, the Transgender, Genderqueer, Genderfluid, Bear Brotherhood, Leather and Progress Pride flags.
But Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer/Questioning, Intersexual, Asexual and ‘+’, all of the sexualities and identities that don’t fall under type continue to encounter discrimination, despite the community’s epic evolution.
The diversity and inclusion that just a few decades ago were unimaginable to members of the gay community has found its voice in ambassadors, organizations and industries worldwide. For over 25 years, the Ralph Lauren Corporation and The Polo Ralph Lauren Foundation have actively supported the LGBTQIA+ community by year-round support of the Elton John AIDS Foundation, AIDS Walk NYC, AmfAR, the Hetrick-Martin Institute, and God’s Love We Deliver.
“As a community, both local and international, gay people were in the midst of an upheaval, a battle for equal rights, a shift in status. This was our new revolution: a tribal, individualistic and collective vision. It deserved a new symbol.”
― Gilbert Baker, American artist, gay rights activist, and designer of the rainbow flag.
This year, they’re partnering with the Stonewall Community Foundation in a bid to make a difference to an international network of change-making LGBTQIA+ organizations, addressing a huge variety of community needs. Working with ambassadors like Olympic freeskier Gus Kenworthy, Harper Watters, Houston Ballet soloist and writer, actress and comedian Patti Harrison, Ralph Lauren embodies LGBTQIA+ community support and encourages others to do the same through their exclusive capsule collection.
Available globally from mid-May, the five-piece unisex 2019 Polo Pride Collection features the iconic Polo Pony player reimagined in rainbow Technicolor. 100% of the purchase price from t-shirts, and 50% from each Polo, hoodie, hat and tote will be donated to Stonewall Community Foundation.
The company’s values continue to pay tribute to their namesake. After all, it was Ralph Lauren who said: “Be anything you want to be. And be many things.”