The Pink Triangle has been installed atop Twin Peaks in San Francisco. for each Pride weekend since 1996, as a visible yet mute reminder of man's inhumanity to man. It is almost 200 feet across, nearly an acre in size, and can be seen for 20 miles.

But why is it on top of Twin Peaks?

It is an educational tool for all to see. The Pink Triangle is one of history's reminders of hate and intolerance, and part of appreciating and celebrating where we are today for Pride Weekend, is understanding where we have been. That is why the Pink Triangle will be there this weekend, to educate others about the hatred of the past to help prevent it from happening again. The pink triangle was used by the Nazis in concentration camps to identify homosexual prisoners. This symbol, which was used as in an attempt to label and persecute, has been embraced by the gay community as a symbol of pride. However, we mustn't forget its tragic origins.

The test of any democracy is how well it treats its minorities. The Third Reich demonstrates how easily a government can devise minority scapegoats. Branding homosexuals as criminals let most Germans feel comfortable looking the other way while the Nazis went about their persecution. Germany is today one of the gay-friendliest places on Earth with true safeguards for LGBTs, however tactics used there so long ago still occur today in other places. While most nations are continually progressing, dozens others are ever more oppressive, less and less tolerant and less inclusive, and are violators of human rights. Many LGBTs in those areas will spend the unforeseen future living in utter fear.

EXAMPLES:

NIGERIA: A proposed law would ban gay marriage and outlaw groups from advocating LGBT rights. Those who marry could face 14 years in prison. Witnesses to a gay marriage could get 10 years, any public display of affection by a same-sex couple could face 10 years, even those publicly supporting gay rights could get 10 years in prison.

UGANDA: Bishop Senyanjo spoke at the Pink Triangle ceremony in 2012 about pending legislation in their parliament which not only discriminates against gays, but could impose the death penalty. President Museveni signed The Uganda Anti-Homosexuality Act, 2014 (with life imprisonment rather than death penalty) on February 24, 2014. The Constitutional Court of Uganda ruled the law invalid due to lack of quorum. The government is appealing to the Supreme Court of Uganda.

Ugandan Bishop Senyanjo, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, and SF Mayor Ed Lee and Treasurer Cisneros at 2012's Pink Triangle commemoration ceremony.

RUSSIA: President Vladimir Putin signed a bill making the "promotion of homosexuality" a crime punishable with fines and jail terms. The law spawned even more violence toward LGBTQIs there. And the president signed a gay adoption ban, but Putin claims "there is no discrimination" in Russia.

IRAN: President Ahmadinejad famously stated "We don't have homosexuals in Iran." Yet Iran has publically hanged gays in public squares, as the heartbreaking execution images of two terrified and emotional teenagers below illustrate. Their names were Mahmoud Asgari and Ayaz Marhoni.

IRAQ: The power vacuum after the war has embolden conservatives who are not only rolling back gains previously made by LGBTs, but they are also allowing, and some say even perpetrating, heinous crimes against them. The killers aren't just executing their gay victims; they are "mutilating their bodies and torturing them," says fundamentalist Sunni cleric Sheik Mohammed al-Ghreri, who criticized the violence.

ISIS controlled areas: Islamic State (ISIS) has publicly executed men accused of homosexuality in both Iraq and Syria by not only throwing them off tall buildings, but by burning them alive or stoning them to death. Men have been blindfolded and dropped head first from the roof of a tall building in front of a large crowd of spectators, including children. The accused are often shot if they happen to survive the brutal methods.

JAMAICA: is very anti-gay & homophobic. The Jamaican government and homophobic citizens/mobs have been known to stand by and watch the suffering, beating and killing of their own people who simply happen to be gay.

DEATH PENALTY:

There are 38 African Countries which criminalize homosexuality, in four of those, Mauritania, northern Nigeria, Sudan and southern Somalia, the punishment can be death. In Uganda, Tanzania, and Sierra Leone, offenders can receive life imprisonment for homosexual acts.

COUNTRIES WHERE HOMOSEXUALITY IS ILLEGAL:

There are 78 countries (but some say 82) with anti-homosexuality laws. (as of May 23, 2015)

CONCLUSION:

The Pink Triangle appears on Twin Peaks in San Francisco each year because, as the examples above illustrate, there is an ongoing need to still bring the message of the Pink Triangle to the world, the message being what can happen when hatred and bigotry become law.

Unless otherwise noted, the content of this page is copyrighted 1995-2008 by The Friends of The Pink Triangle under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 license, some rights reserved. Website started by Katie Hickox and David Helton; current design and implementaton by Michael 'Mickey' Sattler.