“This has to do with the lives that were lost. Reached by phone, the man behind the WauchulaGhost account declined to give his name or any information about himself beyond that he’s American and not gay, but was appalled by the attack. And I thought maybe I could do one thing that would lift some spirits,” he said. All I could see was people mourning and crying. “The morning of the attack I woke up and saw the news and I was just furious. Normally they take over Twitter accounts and fill them with Anonymous imagery and the phrase “Islamic State, we own you.”īut after Orlando they wanted to pay tribute to those who died, he said. The group has been running a campaign against the Islamic State for a little over a year. “They send me beheading pictures all the time and tell me I’m next,” said the man who says he owns the WauchulaGhost Twitter account that’s been posting some of the hacked Twitter accounts. One of the hackers behind the effort says he’s been getting both death threats and kudos since the campaign began on Sunday. The hackers take over Twitter accounts of those espousing support for the Islamic State, then add rainbow flags, signs proclaiming “I’m Gay and I’m Proud” and other gay-positive imagery. “It has meaning, and it gives people hope all around the globe.SAN FRANCISCO - The Anonymous hacker collective has launched a campaign to add rainbow flags and gay pride slogans to Islamic State Twitter accounts in response to the Orlando gay dance club attack that left 49 dead. It’s an example that shows the significance of the flag. In reaction, LGBTQ activists waved pride flags through the streets of Iran in protest. Last month, an Iranian man was beheaded by his family for coming out. To this day, the symbol continues to be used in protest. “They're saying take that first step from darkness out into the light.” “That flag is a beacon and it's shining,” Beal says. The flag served as a beacon of hope, which is what Milk had tasked Baker with designing. The following year, Baker asked the committee for the 1979 Gay Parade to hang 400 pride flags on the light posts along the parade’s route on Market Street. But there were some like Jones and Baker who continued to work and fight for equal rights. Milk had been in office for less than a year.įollowing Milk’s death, Beal says many people had a hard time coping with the loss.
“And he said, ‘Our flag should be a rainbow.’ ”Ī few months later, Milk and San Francisco Mayor George Moscone were assassinated. “He just was so impressed by the diversity of the crowd that this idea of this rainbow of humanity hit him like a brick,” Beal says. Later, Baker was out dancing at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco when he became inspired for how the flag should look. It was Baker, Beal says, who proposed that the symbol actually take the shape of a flag. Baker, an openly gay artist and civil rights activist, designed the rainbow flag in 1978. Rainbow flag creator Gilbert Baker poses at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) on Januin New York City. Milk, along with friend Cleve Jones, approached Baker to get his thoughts on creating a potential symbol. Among them was Harvey Milk, city supervisor of San Francisco and the first openly gay official in the U.S. And now, 43 years later, a fragment has been discovered and is coming home to San Francisco.Ĭharles Beal, president of the Gilbert Baker Foundation and friend of Baker’s, recalls how Baker came up with the idea.Īt the time, there wasn’t a strong symbol within the LGBTQ community, leading many to express the desire to create one. In 1978, the original pride flag was created by artist, activist and drag queen Gilbert Baker.