Created 43 years ago, the rainbow flag is the most widely recognized symbol of LGBTQ community around the world. The first two rainbow flags were designed by Gilbert Baker and fabricated by a team of volunteers for the 1978 Gay Freedom Day Parade in San Francisco.
Measuring nearly 30-feet-by 60 feet, the enormous banners flew over United Nations Plaza. But the following year, one was stolen and the other was believed lost.
More than four decades later, a remnant of one of those two original flags measuring nearly 30-feet-by-13-feet has been located and authenticated.
On Friday, the historic artifact was added to the Gilbert Baker Collection at the GLBT Historical Society Museum and Archives in San Francisco.