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Google Doodle Honors Rainbow Pride Flag Creator Gilbert Baker

Gilbert Baker
Mark Lennihan/AP

The icon and activist would have been 66 today. 

It's only fitting that we celebrate the onset of Pride month by honoring Gilbert Baker, the creator of the original rainbow flag that has become synonymous with Pride and the symbol of the LGBTQ community.

Related | LGBTQ Flag Designer Gilbert Baker Has Died

Today's Google Doodle shows the crafting of the flag from its separate parts--bars of color being cut and sewn together before waving in a breeze. Though Baker's original design had eight colors when he created it in 1978, today's six-color iteration still stirs a feeling of unity, equality, and hope in the community.

"Flags are about power, about visibility. You can't really design a flag," Baker told OUT, when the original rainbow flag was acquired by the Museum of Modern Art in 2015. Baker admitted that he had seen "tacky rainbow stuff" since the flag's rise in popularity, but was truly moved when the White House was illuminated in rainbow colors after the passing of marriage equality. "I just burst into tears that day."

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Dennis Hinzmann