Even with his love for art and music, Baker was not happy in Kansas. His parents relented a bit when Baker won a school art contest with a scholarship to an art academy. It was as if I had told them I was also gay.” When I first told my parents that I wanted to be an artist, they responded in extremely negative terms. Being an artist was bad in the same way that homosexuality was bad. Baker wrote: “But this, after all, was Kansas in 1956. At an early age he found refuge in art but his parents discouraged him from pursuing this hobby. Gilbert Baker was born on June 2nd, 1951 in Kansas.
The activism and art of Gilbert Baker helped unify a community in the bay area and beyond. Baker went on to design and create the first Rainbow Pride Flag for San Francisco Gay Freedom Day. military officer stationed at the Presidio of San Francisco, Gilbert Baker joined the San Francisco Gay Liberation Movement after his discharge.
