RON HENGGELER |
June 8, 2022
Impressions of the Pink Triangle on Twin Peaks
San Francisco recently kicked off Pride month with the illumination of the Pink Triangle on Twin Peaks.
On June 2nd, the day after its official lighting, I was on Twin Peaks in the evening to photograph this year's Pink Triangle.
This year, along with the 27,000 LED lights that make up the Pink Triangle, 6,300ft. of pink stremers have been added.
The Pink Triangle on Twin Peaks as seen from 8th and Market Street in 2012. |
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.From: Pink Triangle History |
The pink triangle was used by the Nazis in concentration camps to identify and shame homosexuals. This symbol, which was used to label and shame, has been embraced by the gay community as a symbol of pride.From: Pink Triangle History |
However, in the 1930s & 1940s there was nothing celebratory about the pink triangle. |
Triangles of various colors were used to identify each category of "undesirable": yellow for Jews, brown of Gypsies, red for political prisoners, green for criminals, black for anti-socials, purple for Jehovah's Witnesses, blue for immigrants, and pink for homosexuals.Pink Triangle History |
Gays were forced to wear the pink triangle on their breast pockets in the concentration camps to identify them as homosexual to set them apart from other prisoners.From: Pink Triangle History |
|
At the end of the war, when the concentration camps were finally liberated, virtually all of the prisoners were released except those who wore the pink triangle. Many of those with a pink triangle on their pocket were put back in prison and their nightmare continued.From: History |
"To me the illuminated pink triangle up on the hill overlooking all of San Francisco is the most impactful, meaningful beacon of light and hope to people like me all over the world, to let them know that there's a place where you can go and you'll be safe and welcome and it also tells the rest of the world, get with it!"Sister Roma of the San Francisco Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence |
|
|
|
The Pink Triangle display is also intended as an instrument to initiate discourse about hate crimes. We want to help prevent others from experiencing the results of hatred that Matthew Shepard, Allen Schindler, Brandon Teena, and countless others have been subjected to. If we can help prevent additional crimes like those committed against them, we will have been successful in our attempt to inform the public.From: Pink Triangle History |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Newsletters Index: 2023, 2022, 2021 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006
Photography Index | Graphics Index | History Index
Home | Gallery | About Me | Links | Contact
© 2023 All rights reserved
The images oon this site are not in the public domain. They are the sole property of the
artist and may not be reproduced on the Internet, sold, altered, enhanced,
modified by artificial, digital or computer imaging or in any other form
without the express written permission of the artist. Non-watermarked copies of photographs on this site can be purchased by contacting Ron.