Friends and family of the late Gilbert Baker will hold an activist march and rally against LGBTQ discrimination and bigotry in memory of the world-renowned artist who created The Rainbow Flag, the international symbol of LGBTQ pride and liberation. Baker, a lifelong LGBTQ and social justice activist, died suddenly March 31 in his Manhattan home. He was 65.
The political march and rally “Raise the Rainbow!” will take place, appropriately, on Flag Day, which is Wednesday, June 14, from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM. “Raise the Rainbow!” is a public event open to all. Attendees are invited to bring their own rainbow-themed banners, art pieces and protest signs.
The event begins at 6:00 PM with a rally at the Stonewall Inn, the bar whose 1969 riots sparked the modern LGBTQ movement. Stonewall is located at 53 Christopher Street. Speakers will celebrate the life, art and radical legacy of Gilbert Baker through personal recollections, resistance speeches and Baker’s own political speeches. At 8:00 PM, participants will march the length of Christopher Street to Christopher Street Pier, carrying banners created by Gilbert Baker. They will raise a Rainbow Flag and call for a rededication to progressive and radical activism, completing the tribute at 9:00 PM.
“Gilbert Baker belonged to all of us, and his sudden passing has been a shocking loss to millions across the world,” said event co-organizer and longtime friend Charley Beal. “There is no better way to honor his work and his memory than to hold this march and protest, to fight the LGBTQ oppression of Donald Trump’s administration. We must continue Gilbert’s work, because the struggle for LGBTQ liberation is not over.”
