Amazing images of the rainbow flag around the world

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A big rainbow flagImage source, Getty Images

The rainbow flag has become a symbol for LGBT rights across the world.

Created by Gilbert Baker in 1978, it was first used in the San Francisco gay freedom day that year.

To mark the artist's death, Newsbeat explores how the flag has been used across the world as a symbol of pride, celebration and protest.

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A dog joins a Pride Parade in China. Homosexuality has been legal in the country since 1997, but was still classed as a 'mental disorder' until 2001

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Protesters at an LGBT rights march in St Petersburg, Russia. Homosexuality has been legal in the country since 1993, but a recent change to the law banning people from promoting "homosexual behaviour among minors" and restrictions on Pride parades has made life more complicated for LGBT people

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In Israel, LGBT campaigners often combine the rainbow flag with the Star of David, a Jewish symbol. The Tel Aviv Pride Parade is the biggest in Asia

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A Pride Parade in New Delhi, India. Homosexuality was legalised in 2009, but that was overturned in 2013. LGBT campaigners are fighting for their rights again

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LGBT campaigners in Uganda. It's illegal to be gay in the African country

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People hold a rainbow flag in June, 2016 in Athens, Greece, to pay tribute for the victims of the Orlando shooting in Florida. Forty-nine people were killed and 53 others wounded. Rallies took place across the world to remember them

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The 'World's longest Rainbow Flag' in Florida Quays, June 15, 2003. It stretched from the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic coast, and used more than 12,800 metres of fabric

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London Pride 1995. Homosexuality was legalised in England in 1967, in Scotland in 1982, and in Northern Ireland in 1982

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