It was thirty years ago today that Gilbert Baker’s rainbow flag made its first appearance in a gay pride march for the 1978 Gay Freedom Parade in San Francisco. The stripes in Baker’s original design signified (from top to bottom) sexuality, life, healing, sunlight, nature, magic, serenity and spirit. The hot pink stripe was dropped due to manufacturing difficulties when the flag was being mass-produced and it lost the turquoise so that an even number of stripes would be visible when hung from lamp posts. The six stripe version is now used worldwide as a gay pride symbol. Gilbert Baker talked to The Independent about the flag’s legacy.