When I was young, they thought I was from outer space. I was the only gay person they probably knew, and they struggled with that. Everybody knew I was gay. They just didn't want to talk about it.
You don't have to live a lie. Living a lie will mess you up. It will send you into depression. It will warp your values.
When I fell in love, all the shame and guilt I carried with me for years suddenly vanished.
In 1978, the first flag was organic everything. It did have eight colors: the six colors of the rainbow we see today plus hot pink and turquoise. But pretty quickly on I realized that I would never be able to satisfy the demand for them by hand-dying fabric and these colors.
That's really how I ended up making the first flag - I was the guy who could sew it.
Being gay in San Francisco is fun. Being gay in Saudi Arabia - that's a whole other matter.
