Gilbert Baker: gay rights activist, artist and creator of the most recognisable and iconic symbol of the LGBT community, the rainbow flag, has passed away. It’s been the visual marker for freedom when equal marriage has been secured, defiance and unity when the community has been threatened by society, and solidarity when LGBT lives have been needlessly lost.

Baker, born in 1951 in Kansas, first moved to San Francisco in the 70s as the fight for LGBT freedom was blossoming, stationed there during his time in the U.S army. He sewed several anti-war and gay protest banners for his friend Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to be elected to office in California. Milk first used the rainbow flag made by Baker at the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade in June 1978, just a short time before Milk was murdered.

“My dearest friend in the world is gone,” Cleve Jones, an activist and writer, wrote in a post on Facebook and Twitter. “Gilbert gave the world the Rainbow Flag; he gave me forty years of love and friendship. I can’t stop crying. I love you forever Gilbert Baker.”

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that he died in his sleep at his New York home on Thursday (March 30).

An oral history titled “Under the Rainbow: Oral Histories of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, intersex and Queer People in Kansas” saw Baker discuss the LGBT emblem. “A flag translates into everything, from tacky souvenirs to the names of organisations and the way that flags function," he said in the 2008 piece. “I knew instantly when I saw the reaction that it was going to be something. I didn't know what or how or – but I knew."

Baker’s original flag was made up on eight colours: pink (for sexuality), red (for life), orange (for healing), yellow (for sunlight), green (for nature), turquoise (for art), indigo (for harmony) and violet (for the human spirit. The contemporary rainbow flag used widely today has just the six stripes; pink and indigo were left off and turquoise changed for blue.

The GLBT Historical Society requested that rainbow flags worldwide be flown at half-mast in remembrance.

Rest in pride and power, Gilbert Baker.