In 1978, San Francisco artist Gilbert Baker created the iconic rainbow flag by dyeing and stitching eight pieces of fabric together — all by hand. "[The LGBTQ community] needed something beautiful, something from us," the late artist said in a 2015 interview with the Museum Of Modern Art . "The rainbow is so perfect because it really fits our diversity in terms of race, gender, ages, all of those things. Plus, it’s a natural flag — it’s from the sky!"