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June 2 (UPI) -- Google is celebrating what would have been the 66th birthday of LGBT rainbow flag creator Gilbert Baker with a new Doodle. Google's homepage features stop-motion animation of fabric strips coming together in order to form the flag which acts as a symbol of pride for the LGBT community.
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The sequence was made by Doodler Nate Swinehart and a team of supporters only a few block away from where Baker first created the first rainbow flag in 1978 in San Francisco, Google noted.
"Teaching himself to sew, Baker put his skills to work for the San Francisco gay community, making banners for marches and protests," the company shared about his story. "In 1978 Baker used those skills to create a new symbol for the LGBT Community to replace the pink triangle, a symbol of oppression and devastation from the Nazi's classification of LGBT people in World War II. Baker's Rainbow was a more positive and celebratory symbol."
"We needed something beautiful, something from us," Baker is quoted as saying. "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!"
The first rainbow flag is said to have been made by thirty people in the attic of San Fransisco's Gay Community Center using over 1,000 yards of cotton. The original featured eight different colors, however, pink and turquoise were later dropped.
Baker died in his sleep at his home in New York City at the age of 65 in March.
"Today we celebrate Gilbert Baker's pride, creativity, and the lasting impact he's had on strengthening and uniting people all over the world," Google wrote.
