As San Francisco prepares for Pride Week, an enduring symbol of that celebration appeared Saturday morning on the hills above the city.
The Pink Triangle is an annual tradition, but this year, hundreds of people arrived for the installation as a show of defiance to the federal government’s targeting of the gay and transgender community.
For 30 years, the Pink Triangle has towered over the city during Pride Month. But founder Patrick Carney said it began almost on a whim.
“The first one went up in the dark of night and we thought it was just sort of a fluke to add a little color to the parade,” he said. “And then we realized that people didn’t know what it was, so that’s why it’s here after 30 years.”
The deeper meaning of the symbol is not a cause for celebration. The pink triangle was the insignia given by the Nazi’s to suspected homosexuals as they were shipped to concentration camps for extermination.
“With the Pink Triangle, we’re just trying to remember what happened and how it ties into Pride,” said Carney. “Because part of celebrating and appreciating any Pride is knowing where you’ve been. And this is it, this Pink Triangle. So, we have to have it here for Pride. Especially with what’s happening in Washington. It really is more important than ever this year.”
With the Trump administration targeting transgender individuals and challenging previously established same-sex rights, participation in the installation of the triangle reached an all-time high. More than 800 people showed up in the cold, foggy morning to hammer down the sections of pink canvas making up the one-acre symbol.
“And it shows that we still need it. That many people wouldn’t show up if this project wasn’t needed,” said Carney. “They wanted to come up to help build it to make sure it was a part of Pride Month.”
After the installation was complete, local leaders spoke about this year’s Pride celebration being about a lot more than just a fight for LGBTQ rights.
“We are going to be at the vanguard, fighting to save this American republic,” said SF Board of Supervisors president, Rafael Mandelman. “And that’s what Pride is about this year…and probably will be, as least for the next three.”
“When we look up here from any point in San Francisco, and we see this triangle, it reminds us of what we stand for,” said CA Assemblymember Matt Haney.
Then he showed the crowd his cap from the Navy ship named for gay rights crusader Harvey Milk, a ship that has been ordered by the Secretary of Defense to be renamed.
“Erasing people is what they do,” said Haney. “Celebrating people and history and identity is what we do.”
Carney has shepherded the Pink Triangle project through 30 years and its continued existence is reflected in his personality.
“Persistence, longevity, stubbornness, I’m still here,” he said, with a laugh. “And someday I’ll find a successor. But, no, we had no idea that it would still be going on. And it really is important, especially this year. It’s more important than ever after what’s happening in Washington, D.C.”
The Pink Triangle will remain on display until the end of Pride month, on Sunday, June 29. And while it will continue, its meaning has changed. It began as a warning about man’s inhumanity towards those seen as “different.” Now, it’s become a symbol of defiance to that very same thing.
