The Story Behind the Google Pride Doodle

As part of Pride Month, Google is making its "doodle" -- the movable image above its search function -- an homage to the LGBT community (see below).

Doodle artist Nate Swinehart gives us some background:

"Today's doodle is by far the most personal I've ever made. Growing up as a member of the LGBT community, the rainbow flag has long been a hugely important symbol to me. I was immediately drawn to the image of [rainbow flag creator Gilbert Baker] and other activists hand-dying and sewing together fabric in an attic to create the first flag. Most of our doodles are digitally created, but I knew this one had to be handmade. I collaborated with the other LGBT members of the team, and after a number of ideas we were all really excited about the idea of re-creating the original flag. So I taught myself to sew and turned my apartment into a tiny, makeshift studio to film the process in stop-motion animation. The whole thing felt really exciting and energetic since I was in unfamiliar waters, but I was thrilled with the tactile feeling of the final doodle! It was especially inspiring knowing I was filming just a few blocks from where the first flag was created. In the end, I'm enormously proud and honored to have created something personal, pushed myself artistically, and celebrated a man who had such a lasting impact on me and my community. Hopefully seeing this image on the home page will strengthen anyone out there dealing with any sort of uncertainty or hardship the way it strengthened me. Thanks to Gilbert for making our world so much more colorful!"