'A Momentous Year in GLBT History': Museum Program Recalls 1978 and Birth of Rainbow Flag in San Francisco

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 4, 2012

San Francisco -- The GLBT History Museum has announced an added program for its June Pride Month series. A "living history talk" will present Gilbert Baker, designer of the rainbow flag, an internationally recognized symbol of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender pride, in conversation with longtime activist Cleve Jones. The event is set for Tuesday, June 19, 7:00 - 9:00 p.m., at the museum, located at 4127 18th St. in the city's Castro District.

Baker created the rainbow flag for the Pride Parade in San Francisco in 1978 -- a momentous year in GLBT history that included the inauguration of Harvey Milk as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, the defeat of the antigay Briggs Initiative and Milk's assassination after just 11 months in office. In the subsequent three decades, the flag has come to be recognized worldwide as an emblem of GLBT community. Baker joins his friend Cleve Jones, who served as an intern in Milk's office and who later founded the Names Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, in recalling the birth of the rainbow flag and the tumultuous events of 1978.

Admission is $5.00 (suggested donation). For more information and for the full calendar of June programs at the museum, visit www.glbthistory.org.

ABOUT THE GLBT HISTORY MUSEUM

The GLBT History Museum is the first full-scale, stand-alone museum of its kind in the United States. Currently featured are two major exhibitions: "Our Vast Queer Past: Celebrating San Francisco's GLBT History" and "Life and Death in Black and White: AIDS Direct Action in San Francisco, 1985-1990." The museum is a project of the GLBT Historical Society, a research center and archives founded in 1985 that houses one of the world's largest collections of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender historical materials.

Share this post