Double Your Impact: Summer Challenge Match

The Flag Belongs to All of Us

In 1978, Gilbert Baker sewed eight strips of colored fabric together and gave the world something it didn’t know it needed: a flag for a community that had never had one. He never trademarked it. He never tried to own it. He gave it away, freely, because he believed it belonged to everyone who needed to see themselves in it.

That flag has since flown over city halls and been banned by them. It’s been stitched into protest signs and hung from hospital windows. It has meant safety to some and provoked fury in others — proof of exactly how much it still matters.

The Gilbert Baker Foundation exists to carry that legacy forward: preserving Gilbert’s story and archive, putting the flag in the hands of a new generation, and standing up — in courtrooms, in city council chambers, in classrooms — whenever it’s threatened.

That work doesn’t happen on its own. It takes resources, relationships, and people willing to fight for a symbol that’s bigger than any one moment.

Right now, Board President Charley Beal is challenging our community to meet that work head-on. Give today, and he’ll match your donation dollar-for-dollar, up to $5,000 — doubling everything you give toward preserving Gilbert’s legacy and defending the flag he made.

A flag is a small thing to carry, and an enormous thing to defend. Thank you for helping us do both.

With gratitude,

Jay Blotcher, Secretary
Gilbert Baker Foundation Board