Symbols of Pride and Activism

“Right now, much of the sensitive language that was won by the liberation movements in the United States during the sixties and seventies is bearing the brunt of a right-wing backlash against being ‘politically correct’. Where I come from, being ‘politically correct’ means using language that respects other peoples’ oppressions and wounds. This chosen language needs to be defended.”
         - Leslie Feinberg, Transgender Warriors

The Pink Triangle: As many are aware, the pink triangle is a symbol taken directly from the Nazi concentration camps. Usually when concentration camps and Nazis are mentioned, most people tend to think of Jews and the Jewish Holocaust (for good reason). But the fact that a large number of homosexual prisoners were in those same camps is an often ignored or overlooked fact of history.

The real story behind the pink triangle begins prior to World War II. Paragraph 175, a clause in German law, prohibited homosexual relations (much like many states in the U.S. today have laws against “crimes of nature”). In 1935, during Hitler’s rise to power, he extended this law to include homosexual kissing, embracing, and even having homosexual fantasies. An estimated 25,000 people were convicted under this law between 1937 and 1939 alone. They were sent to prisons and later concentration camps.

Their sentence also included sterilization, most commonly in the form of castration. In 1942, Hitler extended the punishment for homosexuality to death. Prisoners in Nazi concentration camps were labeled according to their crimes by inverted colored triangles. “Regular” criminals were denoted by a green triangle, political prisoners by red triangles and Jews by two overlapping yellow triangles (to form the Star of David, the most common Jewish symbol). Homosexual prisoners were labels with pink triangles. Gay Jews – the lowest form of prisoner – had overlapping yellow and pink triangles. This system also created a social hierarchy among the prisoners, and it has been reported that the pink triangle prisoners often received the worst workloads and were continually harassed and beaten by both guards and other prisoners.

Although homosexual prisoners were not shipped en mass to the Aushwitz death camps like so many of the Jewish prisoners, there were still large numbers of gay men executed there along with other non-Jewish prisoners. The real tragedy though occurred after the war. When the Allies defeated the Germany and the Nazi Regime, the political and remaining Jewish prisoners were released from the camps (the regular criminals-murderers, rapists, etc. were not released for obvious reasons). The homosexual prisoners were never released though because Paragraph 175 remained West German law until 1969. So these innocent men watched as their fellow prisoners were set free, but remained prisoners for 24 more years.

In the 1970’s, the pink triangle started to be used in conjunction with the gay liberation movement. When people, especially public figures such as law makers, were confronted with such a symbol, they risked being associated with the Nazis if he or she were to attempt to openly limit or prosecute gays. In the 1980’s, then the triangle’s popularity truly began to take off, ACT-UP (AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power) adopted the pink triangle as their symbol, but turned it upright to suggest an active right rather than passive resignation. Like the word “queer”, it is a symbol of hate which has been reclaimed and now stands for pride.

The Pink Triangle was used exclusively with male prisoners – lesbians were not included under Paragraph 175. However, women were arrested and imprisoned for “antisocial behavior”, which included anything from feminism, lesbianism, and prostitution to any woman who didn't conform to the ideal Nazi image of a woman: cooking, cleaning, kitchen work, child raising, passive, etc. These women were labeled with a black triangle. Just as the pink triangle has been reclaimed, lesbians and feminists have begun using the black triangle as a symbol of pride and sisterhood.

The Labrys, or double-bladed ax comes from the goddess Demeter (Artemis). It was originally used in battle by Scythian Amazon warriors. The Amazons ruled with a dual-queen system, and were known to be ferocious and merciless in battle, but just and fair once victorious. Rites associated with the worship of Demeter are believed to have involved lesbian sex. Today, the labrys has become a symbol of lesbian and feminist strength and self-sufficiency.

The Lambda was first chosen as a gay symbol when it was adopted in 1970 by the New York Gay Activists Alliance. It became the symbol of their growing movement and gay liberation. In 1974, the Lambda was subsequently adopted by the International Gay Rights Congress held in Edinburgh, Scotland. As their symbol for lesbian and gay rights, the Lambda has become internationally popular.

This is the symbol for gay men.	This is the symbol for lesbians.	This is the symbol for feminism.

Indicating bisexuality with the gender symbols can get both fun and complicated. While male-male and female-female symbols are instantly recognizable, bisexual configurations can be confusing to some. Basically, it starts with whatever sex the bisexual person is and puts a male symbol on one side and a female on the other – a combination of the straight and gay symbols. For women, this results in a nice, even row of symbols.

Transgendered people have two symbols to choose from. The first and most obvious is a merging of the male and female symbols rather than interlocking. By putting both the cross and the arrow on the same ring, it symbolizes the male and female parts inherent in one person. This symbol is the most inclusive of the two and most recognizable. In the simplest sense, it indicates some level of androgyny.

A green ribbon represents abuse awareness such as “gay bashing” or any type of homophobic abuse.

A red ribbon is a symbol of our concerns for those who have HIV or AIDS.

The rainbow flag demonstrates LGBTTTIQ pride. It represents the diversity yet unity of LGBTTTIQ persons universally