Rainbow Warrior My Life in Color

In 1978, Harvey Milk asked Gilbert Baker to create a unifying symbol for the growing gay rights movement, and on June 25 of that year, Baker’s Rainbow Flag debuted at San Francisco’s Gay Freedom Day Parade. Baker had no idea his creation would become an international emblem of liberation and inclusiveness, forever cementing his pivotal role in helping to define the modern LGBTQ movement. Rainbow Warrior is Baker’s passionate personal chronicle, from a repressive childhood in 1950s Kansas, to a harrowing stint in the US Army, and finally his arrival in San Francisco, where he bloomed as both a visual artist and social justice activist. His fascinating story weaves through the early years of the struggle for LGBTQ rights, when he worked closely with Milk, Cleve Jones, and the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. Gilbert Baker often called himself the “Gay Betsy Ross,” and readers of his colorful, irreverent, and deeply personal memoir will find it difficult to disagree.

Artist Gilbert Baker created the first Rainbow Flag in 1978, and was a longtime LGBTQ+, peace, and AIDS activist. He died in 2017.

Foreword by Dustin Lance Black
1: A Bolt of Lightning
2: Dreaming of a Life Over the Rainbow
3: I Am Not a Homosexual
4: A Door Opens
5: Stitching a Rainbow
6: Victory and Backlash
7: Raining on My Parade
8: Life at the Clown Hotel
9: The Birth of Sister Chanel 2001
10: Bobbi Took Off His Socks
11: Working for the Enemy
12: Stoning the Pope
13: Rock-Bottom and Rebel Rebirth
14: Pink Jesus and the Holy War
15: Spreading My Wings
16: Dorothy Goes to Gotham
17: Defending the Rainbow
18: Russians, Bobbins, Flashbulbs, and Tears
19: The Winter of My Discontent
20: Clash of the Divas
21: An Affair to Remember, a Night to Forget
22: Last Shift at the Sequin Mine
23: A Bump in the Road
24: The Chiffon Rebellion
25: A Day in Court, a Night at Stonewall
26: A Magician, a Mile of Scarf, and a Pair of Scissors
27: The Hatchet Is Buried
28: Invisible, with Liberty and Justice for All
Epilogue: Gilbert Baker's Later Years
Acknowledgments