The pk triangle has been a symbol for var LGBTQIA+ inti. Inially ed as a badge of shame for "gay men" the Nazi Germany of the 1930s and 40s, was revived the 70s and 80s as a symbol of prott agast homophobia and ever sce reclaimed as a posive symbol of...
Contents:
- THE PK TRIANGLE: FROM NAZI LABEL TO SYMBOL OF GAY PRI
- NAZI SYMBOL FOR GAYS, NOW RECLAIMED, TOWERS OVER SAN FRANCIS
- SYMBOLS OF GAY AND LBIAN CULTURE
THE PK TRIANGLE: FROM NAZI LABEL TO SYMBOL OF GAY PRI
Pk triangl were origally ed ncentratn mps to intify gay men. * pink triangle gay symbol *
In Nazi Germany, a downward-potg pk triangle was sewn onto the shirts of gay men ncentratn mps—to intify and further humanize them.
NAZI SYMBOL FOR GAYS, NOW RECLAIMED, TOWERS OVER SAN FRANCIS
* pink triangle gay symbol *
As part of their missn to racially and culturally “purify” Germany, the Nazis arrted thoands of LGBT dividuals, mostly gay men, whom they viewed as Uned Stat Holot Memorial Mm timat 100, 000 gay men were arrted and between 5, 000 and 15, 000 were placed ncentratn mps. “There was no solidary for the homosexual prisoners; they belonged to the lowt ste, ” Pierre Seel, a gay Holot survivor, wrote his memoir I, Pierre Seel, Deported Homosexual: A Memoir of Nazi ImagHomosexual prisoners at the ncentratn mp at Sachsenhsen, Germany, wearg pk triangl on their uniforms on December 19, timated 65 percent of gay men ncentratn mps died between 1933 and 1945. Even after World War II, both East and Wt Germany upheld the untry’s anti-gay law, and many gays remaed rcerated until the early 1970s.
The next year, post-war Germany’s first gay rights anizatn, Homosexuelle Aktn Wtberl (HAW), reclaimed the pk triangle as a symbol of liberatn. Horac Villalobos/Corbis/Getty ImagMemorial plaqu for homosexuals, Jehovah's Wns and Wehrmacht serters are placed where once stood one of the molished barracks Buchenwald ncentratn mp near Weimar, Germany. In 1986, six New York Cy activists created a poster wh the words SILENCE = DEATH and a bright pk upward-facg triangle, meant to ll attentn to the AIDs crisis that was cimatg populatns of gay men across the untry.
SYMBOLS OF GAY AND LBIAN CULTURE
Check out OFM for more on the pk triangle, the symbol gay men were forced to wear at ncentratn mps durg the Holot. * pink triangle gay symbol *
Tradnally, the symbol is drawn pla black, but more recent versns pict the double mars wh the rabow lors filled to symbolize the gays’ aterny or solidary wh other subsectors of the muny. The symbol has sce been reclaimed as a symbol of Pri and remembrance of the horrors that gay men experienced Nazi Germany.
This was a practice popularized by thor Osr Wil who was openly gay and would proudly wear a green rnatn at public events. Back the 20th century New York, gay men would wear a red necktie or bow tie or basilly any red accsory to subtly reprent their inti and help intify members of the same muny. Fortunately, after retirg at age 27, Burke ught a send wd and domated the Gay Softball World Seri where he kept the practice of givg high-fiv to his teammat.