Biography

In addition to traditional textile work, Baker began creating fine art celebrating the Rainbow Flag and the gay community. This began in 1978 with a series of signed limited-edition silkscreen posters. A second series followed in 1979. He created new Rainbow Flag posters and paintings every year to mark its birth. One of his 1992 silkscreens hung in the Clinton White House.

In June of 1994, Gilbert achieved a world’s record when he created a mile-long Rainbow Flag to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Stonewall Riot 1969 in New York City. The banner measured 30 x 5,280 ft. and was carried by 5,000 people. The project was underwritten by Stadtlander’s Pharmacy.

In 2000, Gilbert staged his first exhibition of photographs and fine art celebrating the flag in Rome for World Pride. However, numerous protests from the Vatican delayed the exhibition, and later closed it down. In 2002, the New York Gay LGBT Community Center hosted a 180-piece show of Gilbert’s work. The following year, an expanded version of the show was mounted in two simultaneous exhibitions at the San Francisco Public Library and the San Francisco LGBT Community Center.

In 2003, to celebrate the Rainbow Flag’s 25th anniversary, Baker broke his own world record by creating a gigantic flag for Key West Pride. The banner was 1 and one-quarter miles long, and stretched sea to sea from the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean. The flag was cut into sections that were distributed to more than 100 cities around the world. The project was underwritten by Absolut Vodka. The Key West flag was chronicled in the documentary “Rainbow Pride,” directed by Marie Jo Ferron, and screened at film festivals and on public television.

Throughout the decade, Gilbert was invited to serve as grand marshal for LGBT pride events in cities around the world. Among the host cities that honored him were Philadelphia, New York City, Toronto, San Francisco, London, Stockholm, Vancouver, and Winnipeg.

In 2008, Gilbert returned to San Francisco to work on acclaimed director Gus Van Sant’s movie “Milk,” starring Sean Penn in an Oscar-winning performance as the martyred politician. Gilbert recreated period banners for the film and appeared in a cameo role.
That same year, he departed from his signature rainbow imagery to create a series of map paintings in gold bas-relief.

In 2011, Gilbert was honored by the National Gallery of Art in Dublin, Ireland, and presented a Rainbow Flag to the country’s president, Mary McAleese.

In 2012, Gilbert suffered a severe stroke that affected his physical movement. Despite a pessimistic prognosis by doctors, Gilbert pursued a personal rehabilitation therapy: applying beads and sequins by hand to gowns and outfits. He did this work during the summer of that year in Cherry Grove on Fire Island. In a period of time that surprised experts, Gilbert regained his ability to sew. He was crowned best-dressed at the annual Drag Invasion of the Pines on July 4.

The accolades increased. In 2013, Philadelphia named their annual OutProud award for Gilbert. In 2015, San Francisco created the Gilbert Baker Award, now presented annually during pride festivities in June. The same year, Gilbert was asked to contribute a Rainbow Flag to the permanent collection at New York City’s Museum of Modern Art. The unveiling ceremony took place on June 26, the same day that the Supreme Court of the United States legalized gay marriage nationwide. In the hours that followed, rainbow colors illuminated iconic structures globally, including the Sydney Bridge, the Eiffel Tower, Niagara Falls, the Empire State Building, the World Trade Center, Cinderella’s Castle at Walt Disney World, and The White House.

On June 9, 2016, Gilbert attained a high point in his life of activism. He was invited to the White House for a reception to commemorate LGBT Pride Month. There, he personally presented President Barak Obama with a hand-dyed, cotton Rainbow Flag.

Gilbert’s activism was amplified in reaction to the election of President Trump in November 2016. Recognizing the danger that Trump posed to America’s poor and its minorities, especially, the LGBT community, Gilbert created a powerful response: a collection of Holocaust outfits emblazoned with pink triangles, the symbol that identified homosexuals in Nazi concentration camps. These were exhibited at the Art Saves Lives Gallery in a San Francisco in January 2017.

On March 31, 2017, Gilbert Baker passed away in his sleep at home. At the time, he had been planning for a trip back to his childhood home in Parsons, Kansas. There, he was to be honored at the first annual Gilbert Baker Film Festival at Labette Community College.

Memorial services for Gilbert were held that June in San Francisco and New York City, the latter including a protest march against President Trump.

In early 2018, the Gilbert Baker estate, administered by his sister Ardonna Baker Cook, convened an Advisory Committee to help evaluate and support various programs, events and product endorsements that would properly honor Gilbert’s legacy of LGBT pride, liberty and visibility.

Gilbert Baker’s Rainbow Flag resides in the public domain.