Gilbert Baker: June 2, 1951—March 31, 2017 , with President Obama in 2016 (Image by Amanda Lucidon/The White House)

Gilbert Baker, the creator of the internationally recognized — and reviled, by villainous conservatives! — rainbow flag, has died at 65 at home in Manhattan.

Baker's death from natural causes was confirmed by publicist Jay Blotcher.

Along with inventing the flag, unveiled June 25, 1978, Baker also imbued each color on the flag with meaning:

Red = life

Orange = healing

Yellow = sunlight

Green = nature

Turquoise = magic/art

Blue = serenity/harmony

Violet = spirit

Baker served in the army from 1970-1972, depositing him in San Francisco at a fortuitous moment in gay history. His time in the military was recorded in Conduct Unbecoming: Gays and Lesbians in the U.S. Military (St. Martin's Press, 1993) by the late Randy Shilts.

I've shown my copy of Conduct Unbecoming that I read en route to the 1993 D.C. March, but here's the rainbow bracelet pressed into it. (Image by Matthew Rettenmund)

Baker taught himself to sew, often creating banners and flags for marches against the war and for gay rights. He created flags for Mayor Dianne Feinstein of San  Francisco and for various heads of state in his career. His mile-long rainbow flag, displayed for the 25th anniversary of Gay Pride in NYC in 1994, was carried by 5,000 marchers, breaking a record as the world's biggest flag, a record he topped in 2003.

(Image via Gilbert Baker)

According to Blotcher, Baker's final creation was a rainbow flag with nine colors — lavender was added to signify diversity. His new flag was designed to celebrate the 39th anniversary of the rainbow flag, and will be on display in San Francisco during Gay Pride.

He is survived by his mother and his sister.

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(Video still via BBC)

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After the jump, watch the bowdlerized “BTW” ...

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— NBC Nightly News (@NBCNightlyNews) December 14, 2016

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(Video still via Tom Andersen)

I've posted this in previous years, too, but it's always worth watching/hearing again ...

(Video still via Scott Wiener)

Scott Wiener's drag-driven election ad has won him my vote—and I don't even live in San Francisco!

From the YouTube description:

Hope you enjoy this fun video we made to highlight the work Scott Wiener is doing to create a more affordable and livable community. We want to thank the amazing queens - Carnie Asada, Au Jus, and Miz Palou - who starred in and helped communicate Scott's message, with a beat you can dance to!

Watch the terrific ad after the jump ...

Bruce Vilanch (Image via Help Is on the Way)

When you get an opportunity to interview Bruce Vilanch, one of the most celebrated comedy writers in history and a way-out gay man to boot (and boots go with anything), you do not pass it by.

Vilanch spoke with me last week about a cause close to his heart, the Richmond/Ermet Aid Foundation and the great work it does and will continue to do thanks to the bucks it seeks to rake in from a one-night-only Help Is on the Way cabaret benefit: the Broadway touring cast of Beautiful will perform in Motown & More on Monday, September 12, 2016, at 7:30 p.m. at the Marines' Memorial Theater in San Francisco.

(Image via Help Is on the Way)

The highly anticipated show will be co-hosted by Vilanch and operatic drag diva Katya Smirnoff-Skyy. Get your tickets here.

Vilanch's career took off when a friendship with Bette Midler (before she was Bette Midler!) led to him writing for her 1974 Broadway show Clams on the Half Shell. He's collaborated with her many times, and has written for a dizzying array of TV shows and performers, from Donny Osmond to Elizabeth Taylor, and for some of the funniest people of our time: Robin Williams, Roseanne Barr (she really did used to be funny), Billy Crystal, Lily Tomlin and more.

Help Is on the Way performers speak out about the charity:

Somehow, Vilanch has been able to be a part of the best and worst of pop culture, writing for the Oscars for 27 years and counting, and also counting The Brady Bunch Variety Hour (1976-1977) and that infamous Star Wars Holiday Special (1978) among his credits. He is the nuclear cockroach of HA!, and always the best thing about whatever project he's tackling.

Vilanch survives in any milieu because everyone knows he knows from funny. He's beloved because, unlike some very funny people, he also has a sense of humor about himself, and a sense of duty toward the gay community and people in need.

Read on for my chat with the most hilarious person in the room, because the room is usually filled with people delivering lines he's given them to say ...

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He won't be stripped of his title.  (Image via Ryan Farrag)

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State Dept confrms FBI got it wrong, NONE of Hillary Clinton’s emails were classified @ time https://t.co/tNlN7ITd2S pic.twitter.com/uUVssn8Blb

— Progressive Man (@WeNeedHillary) July 7, 2016

Lena Hall (Images via Boneau/Bryan-Brown)

Tony winner Lena Hall will reprise her role as Yitzhak in Hedwig and the Angry Inch in San Francisco and L.A.—but she will also play Hedwig for one performance a week, marking the first time anyone has played both.

She says:

I’m thrilled to be returning to Hedwig and the Angry Inch, performing not one, but two iconic roles in Los Angeles and my hometown of San Francisco. I have never been one to shy away from a challenge and playing Hedwig has always been a dream of mine. To be able to play both Yitzhak and Hedwig in the same day presents one of the biggest challenges I have seen to date and I’m so excited! Not only will I get to share the stage with my fellow San Francisco native and friend Darren Criss; but I will also get a chance to begin my own journey as the glam rock heroine Hedwig. To tell her story in my hometown and in Los Angeles is the greatest homecoming I can think of, and I am looking forward to sharing this journey with my friends, family and Hedheads.

Hall will appear as Hedwig in: San Francisco, Sunday, October 9 at 7:00 pm; Wednesday, October 12 at 8:00 pm; Wednesday, October 19 at 8:00 pm; and Wednesday, October 26 at 8:00 pm; and in: Los Angeles, Sunday, November 6 at 6:30 pm; Sunday, November 13 at 6:30 pm; Sunday, November 20 at 6:30 pm; and Friday, November 25 at 8:00 pm.