I just read on a gay news blog today that Warsaw, Poland has plans to erect a 4.5 foot pink triangle monument in the middle of the city in memory of the thousands of gay men killed by the Nazis in the concentration camps in the 1930s and 1940s. (Read about the history of gays in Nazi Germany.) To my surprise, i discovered that they are not the first. This memorial in Berlin made of pink granite was unveiled last month (?) and reads, basically, “killed, silenced.” Apparently there was a pink triangle “monolith” erected in Montevideo, Uruguay, (possibly in 2005?) but i cannot find photos of it. It is said to be inscribed, “To honor sexual diversity is to honor life.” (The translation was bad. I wonder if it was a temporary monument. If anyone could help me, thank you in advance. Leave a comment.) In 2003, San Francisco built Pink Triangle Park. I never knew it existed until today, and i’ve lived less than an hour from San Francisco all my life. It has a monument made of 15 granite pillars which together form a large triangle viewable from the big rainbow flag at Market and Castro. (Wow, how many times have i been there and never knew!) This “Homomonument” park in Amsterdam, 1987, consists of 3 large triangles. (I think that was the first one. Go Amsterdam!)

San Francisco also has a tradition of installing large temporary pink triangle monuments. There will be one installed on Saturday June 23rd for the 2007 LGBT pride parade this year on Twin Peaks. If you would like to be a part of it, maybe meet some great people and see some celebrities, check out The Pink Triangle website for more info.

The reason i wrote this post is because we have to remember what bigotry, ignorance and hatred can lead to. Yes, things have changed, but people are still being killed for being gay, and some of the killers are struggling with their own homosexuality. They are repressed and angry and lashing out against the thing they are afraid of. We can’t stop educating until they no longer have to be afraid.