A long way from outsider drag to the Oval Office (Image via GilbertBaker.com)

Rainbow Warrior: My Life in Color by Gilbert Baker (Chicago Review Press, $26.99) is finally here, two years after the lifetime activist and rainbow flag creator's sudden death at age 65.

The book is in Baker's own words, and follows his life from his birth in Kansas to his time in the army to his Castro days, where he was a frequent and dragged-up presence on the nascent gay scene. 

I was particularly drawn to his recollections of now-Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who he described as a member of the ruling class, but a sympathetic figure in the gay-rights battle and in the fight against what would come to be known as AIDS.

Known for his creative costumes, Baker's inspired invention of the rainbow flag would become his calling card. That process is exhaustively detailed, as is Baker's improbably journey from queer outsider to mainstream gay activist invited to the White House — just in time.

Perfect reading for Pride Month.