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 using the colors 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. san francisco-based paramount flag co. also 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.