Pink Triangle returns to Twin Peaks in San Francisco as symbol of hope during Pride Month
SAN FRANCISCO — The giant pink triangle is back out on Twin Peaks as a symbol of hope this pride month.
Organizer Patrick Carney has put in months of planning and hours of labor to make sure the pink triangle stands as a symbol people can never forget.
"We brand ourselves with the pink triangle out of camaraderie with those who were forced to wear the pink triangle during the holocaust," Carney said.
Over the 29 years he has been doing this, he continues to educate people.
"Just in the last 15 minutes, I've probably had four people ask what it is and what it means," Carney said.
Once Intended as a badge of shame, used to identify homosexuals in concentration camps during the Holocaust, it has been reclaimed as a positive symbol by the LGBTQ community.
"The rainbow flag is the antidote to the pink triangle," Carney said, referring to a saying he heard in the past.
Carney warns with more anti-LGBTQ bills popping up in legislatures every day, the effort he started 29 years ago continues to be necessary. But he never thought it would get this big.
"This started out as a renegade crafts project," Carney said. "We snuck up and put it up in the dark of night so we wouldn't get arrested."
Now, it's fully embraced not only by the LGBTQ+ community but the city as well, which hosts a commemoration ceremony on Twin Peaks each year.
The triangle used to only be up for a week; now, it's up for three weeks, through the Pride Parade. Organizers said it took hundreds of volunteers to lay down all the tarps, and they came from all walks of life.
"I think this transcends sexuality and gender identity, in other words, the cause is humanistic in its approach, the human value here is critical," Dawn Dzurilla said, a woman who has been volunteering to help with the triangle for five years.
"Part of celebrating any pride is knowing where we've been and this pink triangle is knowing where we've been," Carney said.
The pink triangle will come down on Sunday, June 30, after the Pride Parade is over.