Bay Area Reporter article. Baker died in 2017. McNamara died of AIDS-related complications in 1999. Those early flags included more colors and other items, such as stars, than the standard six, which Baker turned into an international symbol of LGBTQ rights.
Oakland Pride's release stated that Baker had assigned meaning to each of the six colors commonly used today: red for life, orange for healing, yellow for sunlight, green for nature, blue for harmony, and violet for spirit. (Some of Baker's flags also included turquoise, which represented magic.)In 2017, Philadelphia Pride partnered with Amber Hikes, a queer Black social justice advocate, to include black and brown on the rainbow flag, Oakland Pride's release stated.