After the assassination of gay San Francisco City Supervisor Harvey Milk on November 27 , 1978 , demand for the rainbow flag greatly increased . To meet demand , the Paramount Flag Company began selling a version of the flag using stock rainbow fabric with seven stripes : red , orange , yellow , green , turquoise , blue , and violet . As Baker ramped up production of his version of the flag , he too dropped the hot pink stripe because of the unavailability of hot-pink fabric . Also , San Francisco-based Paramount Flag Co. began selling a surplus stock of Rainbow Girls flags from its retail store on the southwest corner of Polk and Post , at which Gilbert Baker was an employee
assassination
Moscone–Milk assassinations
Rainbow flag (LGBT movement)