Editing Pink triangle

{{Short description|Symbol for the LGBTQIA+ community}}
{{About||the Weezer song|Pink Triangle (song)|the audio manufacturer|Pink Triangle (audio manufacturer)}}
[[File:Pink triangle.svg|thumb|A pink triangle in the original Nazi orientation|alt=]]
A '''pink triangle''' is a [[symbol]] for the [[LGBT]] community. Initially intended as a [[badge of shame]], it was later [[reappropriated]] as a positive symbol of self-identity. It originated in [[Nazi Germany]] in the 1930s and 1940s as one of the [[Nazi concentration camp badge]]s, distinguishing those imprisoned because they had been identified by authorities as [[gay men]] or [[trans women]].<ref name="Plant1988">{{Cite book | last=Plant | first=Richard | year=1988 | title=The Pink Triangle: The Nazi War against Homosexuals | edition=revised | publisher=H. Holt | isbn=978-0-8050-0600-1 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZKSbQbEzif8C | page=175 }}</ref><ref name="ThePinkTriangle">{{Cite web|url=https://www.thepinktriangle.com/history/symbol.html|title=History, the symbol|last=Sattler|first=Michael|website=thepinktriangle.com|access-date=2025-04-06}}</ref> In the 1970s, it was revived as a symbol of protest against [[homophobia]], and has since been adopted by the larger LGBT community as a popular symbol of [[LGBT pride]] and the [[LGBT movements]] and [[Gay liberation|queer liberation]] movements.<ref name=":1">{{cite web |last1=Shankar |first1=Louis |date=April 19, 2017 |title=How the Pink Triangle Became a Symbol of Queer Resistance |url=https://hiskind.com/how-the-pink-triangle-became-a-symbol-of-queer-resistance/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180822215528/https://hiskind.com/how-the-pink-triangle-became-a-symbol-of-queer-resistance/ |archive-date=August 22, 2018 |access-date=August 22, 2018 |website=HISKIND}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Waxman |first1=Olivia B. |title=How the Nazi Regime's Pink Triangle Symbol Was Repurposed for LGBTQ Pride |url=https://time.com/5295476/gay-pride-pink-triangle-history/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221009194449/https://time.com/5295476/gay-pride-pink-triangle-history/ |archive-date= 9 October 2022|url-status=live |access-date=August 22, 2018 |magazine=TIME |date=May 31, 2018 |language=en}}</ref>

== History==

===Nazi prisoner identification ===

{{main|Persecution of homosexuals in Nazi Germany#Concentration camps}}
In [[Nazi concentration camps]], each prisoner was required to wear a downward-pointing, equilateral [[Nazi concentration camp badges|triangular cloth badge]] on their chest, the color of which identified the stated reason for their imprisonment.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://libapp.shadygrove.umd.edu/omeka/exhibits/show/the-era-of-the-holocaust/homosexual-prisoners|title=Homosexual Prisoners · The Era of the Holocaust ·|website=libapp.shadygrove.umd.edu|language=en-US|access-date=2018-08-27}}</ref> Early on, prisoners perceived as gay men were variously identified with a green triangle (indicating criminals) or red triangle (political prisoners), the number ''175'' (referring to [[Paragraph 175]], the section of the German penal code criminalizing homosexual activity), or the letter ''A'' (which stood for {{lang|de|Arschficker}}, literally "arse fucker").<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn1003651|title=Homosexuals in Nazi Germany - Collections Search - United States Holocaust Memorial Museum|website=collections.ushmm.org|language=en|access-date=2018-08-27}}</ref>

Later, the use of a pink triangle was established for prisoners identified as homosexual men and transgender women. ([[Lesbians|Lesbian]] and bisexual women and [[trans men]] were not systematically imprisoned; some were classified as "asocial", wearing a [[Black triangle (badge)|black triangle]].)<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.makingqueerhistory.com/articles/2016/12/20/queer-women-and-afab-people-during-the-holocaust|title=Queer Women and AFAB People During the Holocaust|work=Making Queer History|access-date=2018-08-24|language=en-CA}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Lesbians and the Third Reich |url=https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/lesbians-and-the-third-reich |website=Holocaust Encyclopedia |publisher=United States Holocaust Memorial Museum |access-date=24 August 2018 |language=en}}</ref> The pink triangle was also assigned to others considered sexual deviants, including [[Zoophilia|zoophiles]] and pedophiles<ref name=":1" /> in addition to sex offenders. If a prisoner was also identified as [[Jewish]], the triangle was superimposed over a second yellow triangle pointing the opposite way, to resemble the [[Star of David]] like the [[yellow badge]] identifying other Jews. Prisoners wearing a pink triangle were harshly treated by most other prisoners.<ref name=":1" />

After the camps were liberated at the end of the Second World War, some of the prisoners imprisoned for homosexuality were re-incarcerated by the [[Allies of World War II|Allied]]-established [[Federal Republic of Germany]], as the Nazi laws against homosexuality were not repealed there until 1969.<ref>{{cite web |publisher=Snopes |title=Were Gay Concentration Camp Prisoners 'Put Back in Prison' After World War II? |date=11 October 2018 |author=Arturo Garcia |url=https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/gay-prisoners-germany-wwii/}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Gay Men under the Nazi Regime|url=https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/gay-men-under-the-nazi-regime|access-date=2022-01-28|website=encyclopedia.ushmm.org|language=en}}</ref> The Nazi amendments to Paragraph 175, which turned homosexuality, previously labeled as a minor offense, into a [[felony]], remained intact in East Germany until 1968.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/documentary-explores-gay-and-lesbian-oppression-in-east-germany-a-883707.html |title=Documentary Explores Gay Life in East Germany |author=James Kirchick |date=February 13, 2013 |agency=Der Spiegel}}</ref> In 2002 the [[Government of Germany|German government]] issued an official apology to [[gay men]] who were persecuted during the war.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.glapn.org/sodomylaws/world/germany/genews011.htm |title=Germany Offers Nazi-Era Pardons |author=Melissa Eddy |date=May 18, 2002 |agency=Associated Press}}<!-- not official URL but it has the full text --></ref>

[[Rudolf Brazda]], one of the last known homosexual concentration camp survivors, died on August 3, 2011, at the age of 98.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Langer |first1=Emily |title=Rudolf Brazda dies; gay man who survived Nazi concentration camp was 98 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/rudolf-brazda-dies-gay-man-who-survived-nazi-concentration-camp-was-98/2011/08/05/gIQAUlb90I_story.html |access-date=22 August 2018 |newspaper=Washington Post |date=7 August 2011 |language=en}}</ref>

=== Symbol of LGBTQ+ liberation ===
[[File:19.Assembly.ActUp.NYC.30March2017 (33609021152).jpg|thumb|An [[ACT UP]] member in 2017, displaying the organization's trademark protest sign with an inverted, upward-pointing pink triangle.]]

In the 1970s, newly active Australian, European and North American queer liberation advocates began to use the pink triangle to raise awareness of its use in Nazi Germany.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lambda.org/symbols.htm |title=Symbols of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Movements |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=2004 |website=lambda.org |publisher=Lambda GLBT Community Services |access-date=2014-09-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041204072030/http://www.lambda.org/symbols.htm |archive-date=2004-12-04 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 1972, gay concentration camp survivor [[Heinz Heger]]'s memoir {{lang|de|Die Männer mit dem rosa Winkel}} (''The Men with the Pink Triangle'') brought it to greater public attention.<ref name="Jensen001">{{Cite journal |first=Erik |last=Jensen |title=The pink triangle and political consciousness: gays, lesbians, and the memory of Nazi persecution |journal=Journal of the History of Sexuality |year=2002 |volume=11 |issue=1 and 2 |pages=319–349 |doi=10.1353/sex.2002.0008 |s2cid=142580540 }}</ref> In response, the German gay liberation group {{lang|de|Homosexuelle Aktion Westberlin}} issued a call in 1973 for gay men to wear it as a memorial to past victims and to protest continuing discrimination.<ref name="glbtq.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/pink_triangle.html |title=Pink Triangle |last1=Gianoulis |first1=Tina |date=2004 |editor=Claude J. Summers |publisher=glbtq: An Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Culture |access-date=2014-09-26 |quote=In the early 1970s, gay rights organizations in Germany and the United States launched campaigns to reclaim the pink triangle. In 1973 the German gay liberation group Homosexuelle Aktion Westberlin (HAW) called upon gay men to wear the pink triangle as a memorial. |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141025220641/http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/pink_triangle.html |archive-date=2014-10-25 }}</ref><ref name="Nursing Clio">{{Cite news|url=https://nursingclio.org/2017/04/20/pink-triangle-legacies-holocaust-memory-and-international-gay-rights-activism/|title=Pink Triangle Legacies: Holocaust Memory and International Gay Rights Activism|date=2017-04-20|work=Nursing Clio|access-date=2018-08-27|language=en-US}}</ref> In the 1975 movie ''[[The Rocky Horror Picture Show]]'', Dr. Frank N. Furter—a [[bisexuality|bisexual]] [[Transvestism|transvestite]]<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.southbendtribune.com/entertainment/inthebend/eventnews/sexuality-doo-wop-major-themes-in-the-rocky-horror-show/article_7962d936-9470-59db-9e50-02db2ccfddc5.html|title=Sexuality, doo-wop major themes in 'The Rocky Horror Show'|last=Tribune|first=Andrew S. Hughes South Bend|work=South Bend Tribune|access-date=2018-08-26|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.tor.com/2012/10/31/the-astonishingly-sensical-plot-of-the-rocky-horror-picture-show/|title=The Astonishingly Non-Nonsensical Plot of The Rocky Horror Picture Show|date=2012-10-31|work=Tor.com|access-date=2018-08-26|language=en-US}}</ref>—wears a pink triangle badge on one of his outfits.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://medium.com/thinking-about-queer-art-performance/rated-r-for-resistance-c6e21611a0fa|title=Rated "R" for Resistance|last=Nash|first=Tara|date=2017-11-30|website=Queerer Things|access-date=2018-08-24}}</ref> In 1976, Peter Recht, Detlef Stoffel, and Christiane Schmerl made the German documentary {{lang|de|Rosa Winkel? Das ist doch schon lange vorbei...}} (''Pink Triangle? That was such a long time ago...'').<ref name="glbtq.com"/> Publications such as San Francisco's ''Gay Sunshine'' and Toronto's ''The Body Politic'' promoted the pink triangle as a memorial to those who had faced persecution and oppression.<ref name="glbtq.com"/>

In the 1980s, the pink triangle was increasingly used not just as a memorial but as a positive symbol of both self-identity and community identity. It commonly represented both gay and lesbian identity, and was incorporated into the logos of such organizations and businesses. It was also used by individuals, sometimes discreetly or ambiguously as an "insider" code unfamiliar to the heterosexual majority.<ref name="glbtq.com"/> The logo for the 1987 [[Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights|March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights]] was a silhouette of the US Capitol Dome superimposed over a pink triangle.<ref name="Nursing Clio"/> Additionally, the first South Asian LGBTQ+ identity-based group used the pink triangle for its logo in 1986: the inverted triangle of Trikone’s logo also roughly traces the shape of the Indian subcontinent, a signifier of their identity-based membership.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mission Statement – Trikone |url=https://www.trikone.org/mission-statement |access-date=2025-04-29 |language=en-US}}</ref>

[[File:Bi triangles.svg|thumb|The [[LGBT symbols#Biangles|biangles]] symbol of bisexuality, designed by artist Liz Nania, features a pink triangle]]
The design of the [[LGBT symbols#Biangles|biangles]] symbol of [[bisexuality]] began with the pink triangle. The biangles symbol was designed by artist Liz Nania as she co-organized a bisexual contingent for the [[Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights]] in 1987. The addition of a blue triangle to the pink triangle in the biangles symbol [[Gendered associations of pink and blue|contrasts the pink]] and represents [[heterosexuality]]. The two triangles overlap and form lavender, which represents the "queerness of bisexuality",  referencing the [[Lavender Menace]] and 1980s and 1990s [[Lavender (color)#LGBT|associations of lavender with queerness]].<ref name="Biauto">{{Cite web |title=Biangles, bisexual symbol, bi colors, bi history — Liz Nania |url=https://www.liznania.com/early-work |access-date=2022-06-26 |website=Liz Nania |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name="Dezeen">{{cite web | last=Jordahn | first=Sebastian | title=''Queer x Design highlights 50 years of LGBT+ graphic design'' | website=[[Dezeen]] | date=2019-10-23 | url=https://www.dezeen.com/2019/10/23/queer-design-andrew-campbell-50-years-lgbt-graphic-design/ | access-date=2021-06-12}}</ref> 

Taking a more militant tone, the [[AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power]] (ACT UP) was formed by six gay activists in New York City in 1987, and to draw attention to the disease's disproportionate impact on gay and bisexual men, and the apparent role of "genocidal" queer-antagonism in slowing progress on medical research,<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Sember|first1=Robert|last2=Gere|first2=David|date=June 2006|title='Let the Record Show…': Art Activism and the AIDS Epidemic|journal=American Journal of Public Health|volume=96|issue=6|pages=967–969|doi=10.2105/AJPH.2006.089219|issn=0090-0036|pmc=1470625|pmid=16670207}}</ref> adopted an upward-pointing pink triangle on a black field along with the slogan "[[Silence=Death Project|SILENCE = DEATH]]" as its logo.<ref>Feldman, Douglas A. and Judith Wang Miller (1998). ''The AIDS Crisis: A Documentary History''. Greenwood Publishing Group. {{ISBN|0-313-28715-5}}. p. 176</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.actupny.org/reports/silencedeath.html|title=SILENCE = DEATH|website=www.actupny.org|access-date=2016-05-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090907043058/http://www.actupny.org/reports/silencedeath.html|archive-date=2009-09-07|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://hiskind.com/how-the-pink-triangle-became-a-symbol-of-queer-resistance/|title=How the Pink Triangle Became a Symbol of Queer Resistance|date=2017-04-19|work=HISKIND Magazine|access-date=2018-08-27|language=en-GB}}</ref> Some use the triangle in this orientation as a specific "reversal" of its usage by the Nazis.<ref name="castro">"San Francisco Neighborhoods: The Castro" KQED documentary.</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=This week in history: Recognizing the history of the pink triangle|url=https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/this-week-in-history-recognizing-the-history-of-the-pink-triangle/|website=People's World|publisher=PeoplesWorld.org|access-date=27 April 2018|date=2017-06-20}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |doi = 10.1300/J082v30n03_01|pmid = 8743114|title = Triangles and Tribulations|journal = Journal of Homosexuality|volume = 30|issue = 3|pages = 1–11|year = 1996|last1 = Elman|first1 = R. Amy}}</ref> The [[The Pink Panthers|Pink Panthers Movement]] in Denver, Colorado, adopted a pink triangle with clawed panther print logo, adapted from the original Pink Panthers Patrol in New York City.{{Citation needed|date=August 2018}}

In the 1990s, a pink triangle enclosed in a green circle came to be commonly used as a symbol identifying "[[safe space]]s" for LGBTQ+ people at work or in school.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://equal.org/safe-space-program/|title=Safe Space – EQUAL!|website=equal.org|language=en|access-date=2018-08-24}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Raeburn|first=Nicole C.|title=Changing Corporate America from Inside Out: Lesbian and Gay Workplace Rights|date=2004|page=209|isbn=978-0-8166-3999-1}}</ref>

Use of the pink triangle symbol is not without criticism. In 1993, historian Klaus Müller argued that "the pink triangles of the concentration camps became an international symbol of gay and lesbian pride because so few of us are haunted by concrete memories of those who were forced to wear them."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Seifert |first1=Dorthe |title=Between Silence and License: The Representation of the National Socialist Persecution of Homosexuality in Anglo-American Fiction and Film |journal=[[History & Memory]] |date=2003 |volume=15 |issue=2 |pages=94–129 |doi=10.1353/ham.2003.0012 |s2cid=159598928 |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/50614 |issn=1527-1994|url-access=subscription }}</ref> In March 2025, [[Second presidency of Donald Trump|US president]] [[Donald Trump]] shared a link to ''[[The Washington Times]]'', which showed the downward pointed pink triangle overlaid with a [[no symbol]], in reference to Trump's [[Second presidency of Donald Trump #Diversity, equity and inclusion |anti-DEI]] policies.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Clarke |first=Amelia |date=2025-03-11 |title=Yes, Trump posted link that included Nazi symbol for gay men in concentration camps |url=https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-pink-triangle-nazis-gay/ |access-date=2025-03-13 |website=Snopes |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Hunt |first=Jeremy |title=Army recruitment ads look quite different under Trump |url=https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/feb/19/army-recruitment-ads-look-quite-different-trump/ |date=2025-02-19 |access-date=2025-03-13 |website=The Washington Times |language=en-US}}</ref>

== Memorials ==
The symbol of the pink triangle has been included in numerous public monuments and memorials. In 1980 a jury chose the pink triangle design for the [[Homomonument]] in Amsterdam, to memorialize gay and bisexual men killed in the [[Holocaust]] (and also victims of [[Gay bashing|anti-gay violence generally]]).<ref name="Dunford2010">{{cite book|author=Martin Dunford|title=The Rough Guide to The Netherlands|year=2010|publisher=Penguin|isbn=978-1-84836-882-8|page=73}}</ref> In 1995, after a decade of campaigning for it, a pink triangle plaque was installed at the [[Dachau concentration camp|Dachau]] Memorial Museum to commemorate the suffering of gay men and lesbians.<ref name="munich.memorial">{{cite news|last=Brocklebank|first=Christopher|title=New memorial to gay holocaust victims to be built in Munich|url=http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2011/05/31/new-memorial-to-gay-holocaust-victims-to-be-built-in-munich/|access-date=1 June 2011|newspaper=[[Pink News]]|date=31 May 2011}}</ref> In 2015 a pink triangle was incorporated into Chicago's [[Legacy Walk]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.windycitymediagroup.com/m/APPredirect.php?AID=53131|title=Legacy Walk unveils five new bronze memorial plaques - 2342 - Gay Lesbian Bi Trans News - Windy City Times|date=14 October 2015}}</ref> It is the basis of the design of the [[Sydney Gay and Lesbian Holocaust Memorial|Gay and Lesbian Holocaust Memorial]] in [[Sydney]]. In 2001 it inspired both San Francisco's [[Pink Triangle Park]] in [[The Castro, San Francisco|the Castro]] and the {{convert|1|acre|m2|adj=on}} Pink Triangle on Twin Peaks that is displayed every year during the [[San Francisco Pride|Pride]] weekend.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thepinktriangle.com/ |title=The Pink Triangle, displayed annually on Twin Peaks in San Francisco during Pride weekend |publisher=Thepinktriangle.com |date=2012-06-14 |access-date=2013-02-12}}</ref> It is also the basis for LGBTQ+ memorials in [[Barcelona]], [[Sitges]], and [[Montevideo]], and the burial component of the LGBTQ+ [[Pink Dolphin Monument]] in [[Galveston]].

<gallery widths="180" heights="180" perrow="4" caption="Examples of Pink Triangle memorials">
File:In memory of homosexual.JPG|Pink triangle ({{lang|de|Rosa Winkel}} in German) memorial for [[gay]] men killed at [[Buchenwald]].
File:Gedenktafel Rosa Winkel Nollendorfplatz.jpg|In the Berlin [[Nollendorfplatz (Berlin U-Bahn)|Nollendorfplatz subway station]], a pink triangle plaque honors gay male victims.
File:Ac.homomonument.jpg|Amsterdam's ''[[Homomonument]]'' uses pink triangles symbolically to memorialize gay men killed in the [[Holocaust]] (and also victims of [[Gay bashing|anti-gay violence]] generally).
File:Pink Triangle Sydney,.jpg|[[Sydney Gay and Lesbian Holocaust Memorial]]
File:Pink Triangle 6.jpg|[[Pink Triangle Park]] in the [[Castro District]] of [[San Francisco]] honors gay holocaust victims
File:Pink Triangle installation on Twin Peaks in 2022.jpg|Pink Triangle 2022 installation on [[Twin Peaks (San Francisco)|Twin Peaks]] in [[San Francisco]]
</gallery>

== See also ==
{{Sister project links |auto=yes}}
* [[Red triangle (Palestinian symbol)]]

==References==
{{Reflist|25em}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book |last1=Newsome |first1=W. Jake |title=Pink Triangle Legacies: Coming Out in the Shadow of the Holocaust |date=2022 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=978-1-5017-6549-0 |language=en}}
*{{cite journal |last1=Tremblay |first1=Sébastien |title=Visual Collective Memories of National Socialism: Transatlantic HIV/AIDS Activism and Discourses of Persecutions |journal=German History |date=2022 |volume=40 |issue=4 |pages=563–582 |doi=10.1093/gerhis/ghac045}}

==External links==
* [https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/classification-system-in-nazi-concentration-camps Classification in Nazi Concentration Camps]

{{Persecution of homosexuals in Nazi Germany}}
{{LGBT |rights=yes}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pink Triangle}}
[[Category:Persecution of homosexuals in Nazi Germany]]
[[Category:LGBTQ symbols]]
[[Category:Terminology of Nazi concentration camps]]
[[Category:Pink symbols|Triangle, pink]]
[[Category:Triangles]]