In November 1978, San Francisco's lesbian, gay and bisexual community was stunned when the city's first openly gay supervisor, Harvey Milk, was assassinated. The flag was then reduced to seven stripes. When Baker approached a company to mass-produce the flags, he found out that “hot pink' was not commercially available. Baker dyed and sewed the material for the first flag himself - reminiscent of Betsy Ross and the creation of the US Flag. Baker used the five-striped “Flag of the Race' as his inspiration, and designed a flag with eight stripes.These colours were intended to represent respectively: sexuality, life, healing, sun, nature, art, harmony, and spirit. The first rainbow flag was designed in 1978 by Gilbert Baker, a San Francisco artist, in response to calls by activists for a symbol for the pride community.