The Pink Triangle and Political Consciousness

Gays, Lesbians, and the Memory of Nazi Persecution

Datos Bibliográficos

ID23136455
AutoresErik Jensen (autor de correspondencia), Erik N Jensen
Año2002
Volumen11
Número1
Páginas319-349
Fecha de publicación2002-01-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaJournal of the History of Sexuality (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1043-4070 • E-ISSN: 1535-3605
EditorialProject MUSE (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1353/sex.2002.0008
OpenAlexW1604253544
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas38
Referencias citadas20

When, in the winter of 1993, the gay magazine 10 Percent criticized the use of the pink triangle as an emblem of gay identity, it touched a nerve. 1 "As a symbol of shared victimization, it is indefensible," wrote Sara Hart, a senior editor of the magazine. "To equate the discrimination and harassment of the present with the savagery inflicted upon the lesbians and gay men of the Holocaust trivializes their suffering." 2 Readers disagreed, however, and the letters in the following two issues underscored the relevance of the pink triangle to the gay and lesbian community. One reader stated, "You editorialize about how the wearing of this symbol 'trivializes' the suffering of concentration camp victims. . . . Are the deaths of tens of thousands of people (as a result of the Reagan administration's inaction on AIDS) trivial?" 3 Another argued that the pink triangle raised the political consciousness of gays and lesbians and "compels us to take action against homophobic trends, such as current attempts to pass antigay initiatives throughout the country." 4 A third reader, even though she deplored the [End Page 319] commercialization of the pink triangle, still supported its display "on somber occasions, such as in remembrance of victims of queer-bashings." 5

Art · Emblem · Gulag · Homosexuality · Lesbian · Literature · Nazism · Persecution · Political science · Politics · Queer · Sociology · Symbol (formal) · European history and politics · Gender Studies · Law · Philosophy