Gilbert Baker, the man who created the rainbow flag — an iconic symbol of the LGBT rights movement — died Thursday. He was 65.

Baker's death was announced on Twitter by activist and author Cleve Jones, who called him his "dearest friend in the world."

"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," Jones wrote on Facebook.



Baker was born in Kansas in 1951 and served in the US Army from 1970 to 1972, stationed in San Francisco. After he was honorably discharged, he stayed in San Francisco and taught himself to sew. During the beginning of the gay liberation movement, Baker was tasked by friend Harvey Milk with making banners for gay and antiwar street protests.



Milk rode under the first rainbow flags that Baker made on June 25, 1978, at the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade. Months later, on Nov. 27, Milk was assassinated, lest than a year after becoming the first openly gay elected official in the US.