the first rainbow flags were commissioned by the fledgling pride committee and were produced by a team led by baker that included artist lynn segerblom. segerblom was then known as faerie argyle rainbow; according to her, she created the original dyeing process for the flags. baker is said to have gotten the idea for the rainbow flag from the "flag of the races" in borrowing it from the hippie movement of that time largely influenced by pioneering gay activist allen ginsberg. the flag originally comprised eight stripes; baker assigned specific meaning to each of the colors: thirty volunteers hand-dyed and stitched the first two flags for the parade.