We are all familiar with the
attempt by Adolf Hitler to eliminate our Jewish brothers
and sisters. Of how he imprisoned them in concentration
camps, stole their possessions, and subjected them to
torture and murder. And we are probably all aware of how
they were identified within the camps: the Star of David.
Along with our Jewish
brethren, others were summarily rounded up and forced into
these same camps. Gypsies almost always come to mind as
another group whom Hitler sought to annihilate. What
history has long ignored, until the opening of the
Holocaust Museum, were the prisoners who died alongside
those wearing the Star of David. These prisoners, however,
wore another symbol: the pink triangle. Their "crime":
being homosexual. Because these prisoners were gay, they
were ignored by historians, and worse. When the Allies
liberated the camps, they released the prisoners wearing
the Star of David, provided them with food, clothing, and
medical care. The pink triangles were kept in the camps,
and continued to die from medical neglect. This is not a
part of history anyone should be proud of.
Apologies, for what they are
worth, have been extended to our Jewish brothers and
sisters for the atrocities they suffered during the war.
Reparations have and are being made, as if money can erase
the pain they endured. But for the wearers of the pink
triangle: no apology, no reparations.
Wear the pink triangle.
Display it on your car, in your home, at work. It is a
means of remembering our gay brothers and sisters (who
were forced to wear the black triangle, but imprisoned to
a lesser degree than their male counterparts) who
forfeited their lives. It is a way of joining our Jewish
brethren in announcing to the world:
NEVER AGAIN!
