“The Pink Triangle:
Gone But Not Forgotten”
A Sermon by Elizabeth Schroeder, EdD(c), MSW,
October 16, 2005
The story I have to tell is a story for all ages – but it’s not the kind that is typically told when children are sitting up front here, gathered around an adult with a wonderful book open to tell a tale with a lesson. This story has many lessons – perhaps the strongest of which is George Santayana’s: “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
When you came in this morning, some of you were given stickers and asked to wear them. Could you all stand up now, please, if you can? Regardless of your actual sexual orientation, for the purposes of this brief story, you are representing lesbian and gay individuals. For those of you who do not have a sticker, would you please turn and look at the people standing while I read this story to you?
Once upon a time, in 1871, the Emperor of Germany passed a law prohibiting certain types of sexual contact, including sexual contact between two men. Known as paragraph 175, the law read in part:
"An unnatural sex act committed between persons of the male sex or by humans with animals is punishable by imprisonment; the loss of civil rights might also be imposed."
By the early 1920s and 30s, many Germans became very verbal in their opposition to this law; in fact, Berlin became a gay mecca, where lesbians and gay men could live fairly openly. There were gay and lesbian bars and other gathering places.
Then, a growing number of Conservatives in the country started a new political party know as the “Nazis.” The Nazis decided that Germany’s tolerance of homosexuality was a sign of the decadence and dishonor that was running through the country, which had suffered such huge losses and humiliation during World War I. In 1933, Adolph Hitler took power, using a political platform that espoused “traditional values” as well as “racial purity” which included vituperative anti-Semitism and persecution of Jews and other “undesirables.”
Among these were gay men, and to a lesser extent, lesbians. Gay men were seen as effeminate and weak – and, since Germany was focusing on growth during the time, gay men were devalued for their low reproductive potential or contribution. The powerful propaganda machine of Nazi Germany further connected homosexuality to treason, which fueled public opposition to gay and lesbian people. Similar to the treatment of Jews, informants were placed among gay people, and a “pink list” was created on which names of people even suspected of being gay appeared. By 1938, men could be arrested for anything even assumed to be suggestive of sexual conduct – such as looking at each other.
Men who were arrested under Paragraph 175 were sent to concentration camps, and required to wear an armband with the number “175” on it to indicate their offense. Later, as the camps exploded with different categories of people the Nazis found to be an affront to so-called “traditional values,” a system of different-color triangular patches was started. Gay men and “other sexual deviants,” such as pedophiles, were assigned an inverted pink triangle, to be worn on the left shoulder and right pants leg.
Although Paragraph 175 applied to sex between two men, and most of the gay victims of the Nazis were male, lesbians were also incarcerated in the concentration camps. Lesbians in the camps wore the black triangle of the "asocial" category of prisoner, so designated because they failed to adhere to the Aryan ideal of womanhood, a wife dedicated to "Kinder, Kuche, und Kirche" ("children, kitchen, and church").
Like so many others in the concentration camps, lesbians and gay men were subject to medical experimentation. This included sterilization – for men, usually by castration. It also included all sorts of experiments trying to cure men of their homosexuality, since it was seen as a mental illness. They were often segregated from other prisoners, so that they could not spread their disease of homosexuality to others. In one camp, Buchenwald, doctors were consumed by the idea of creating a heterosexual man from a homosexual one, by surgically implanting capsules containing large amounts of testosterone, the male sex hormone.
Now, there is no competition between people who were imprisoned in the concentration camps – people of every group that the Nazis determined to be undesirable endured unspeakable treatment, horrors, and deaths. But one thing that was different for the gay and lesbian individuals in the camps is that they were attacked not only by the prison guards, but by other prisoners as well.
According to one historian, virtually all of the gay and lesbian people imprisoned in the concentration camps died there. Those who did survive the war were liberated from the camps only to be put right back into prison, because Paragraph 175 was still the law in Germany.
During the Nuremberg Trials that took place after World War II was over, none of the atrocities committed against gay men and women, or paragraph 175, were mentioned. In fact, what gay men and lesbians suffered under the hands of the Nazis did not start to be documented until the 1980s. Paragraph 175 was not abolished in Germany until 1994.
Those of you who are standing, please go ahead and sit down. Thank you.
When we were planning for this service, and someone even brought up the idea of going back to World War II to discuss the history of the pink triangle, I honestly wondered whether it would be too much of a disconnect; it has been more than 60 years, after all. Then during this year’s Pride month in June, the Executive Director of the New York Christian Coalition, the Reverend Bill Banuchi, announced that he thought gay and lesbian people should wear warning labels, similar to cigarette packages. Clearly, the concept of being labeled as “different” or “separate” is still alive in intolerant, ignorant minds.
I also looked at the language that was used during World War II and the sentiments behind it and compared it to what we see today in the mainstream—and I was literally blown away. A few quick examples:
First, the original Paragraph 175 lumped together sexual behaviors between two men and both pedophila (sex between an adult and a child) and bestiality, or sexual behaviors between a human being and an animal. This argument is not only seen today throughout Conservative Christian groups – which a colleague of mine refers to as the “Radical Wrong” – but it was actually used here in Montclair, at a meeting of the Civil Rights Commission of the Town Council during which a referendum was proposed to have Montclair officially support same-sex marriage. Some of us stood mere feet away from Reverend Childress, who is trying to get into public office in this area, as he asked, “What’s next? Endorse pedophilia?” At the beginning of 2005, the Rev. Jerry Falwell said on CNN, "If, in fact, we legalize same-sex marriage, then why not bestiality?" For anyone who does not identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual, can you imagine for a moment what it might feel like to have your feelings of attraction – your love for your partner or spouse – equated with a sex act between a human and an animal?
Second, Paragraph 175 specifically outlined that certain “civil rights” could be removed; Today, rights of same-sex couples, even with every step forward we’ve been making, are being removed, particularly in local communities. In January of this year, the town of Eastchester, NY was one of a number that actually rescinded domestic partnership rights from its municipal employees, effectively removing one aspect of their Civil Rights.
Third, when the culture was feeling out of control in the 1930s in Germany, a Conservative government came into power – one that held a certain group of people at least partially responsible for the moral decay of its country. Today, political pundits and Conservative religious leaders said supporting same-sex marriage was at least partially responsible for Kerry losing the election in November. A few years earlier, the Rev. Jerry Falwell talked about the tragedy of September 11th as God’s punishment to a country that had “mocked” God, saying in part, “…the pagans…the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle…I point the finger in their face and say ‘you helped make this happen.’” Conservative groups in the South took this a horrific step further by having the audacity to say that Hurricane Katrina was God’s retribution for New Orleans being so tolerant of lesbian and gay people. For a group with such marginalized social and legal rights, I’m amazed that they think we have this much power!
Fourth, Hitler took power under a platform of “traditional values.” Today’s Conservative Republican party in the US is consumed by “traditional family values,” which obviously does not include families in which there are lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or transgender parents or children.
After several decades of making amazing progress as a culture around LGBT rights, we are on a dangerous backswing – one that is only growing in momentum, especially as the backlash grows with it. We are living in a country in which:
- Over 100 pieces of legislation pertaining specifically to outlawing same-sex marriage were introduced in various states during 2004.
- In which hate crimes against lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or transgender individuals have more than tripled over the past 15 years -- and in which we saw an 82% increase last year in the number of complaints about violence against an LGBT person that police refused to investigate.
- In which people still do not believe that lesbian and gay adults should be allowed to parent. Three states in 2004 introduced new legislation trying to keep lesbian and gay individuals from being able to adopt children; at least one passed a law saying that adoptions from other states would not be recognized if the parents were of the same sex. Just last week, Republicans in Indiana introduced legislation that would require a woman seeking alternative fertilization to be married – a direct attempt at limiting lesbian and gay couples’ access to biological parenting, as well as the reproductive freedom of all women. This legislation was, thankfully, withdrawn.
- We live in a country in which four out of five LGBT high school students report being verbally, sexually or physically harassed because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. And make no mistake – violence is perpetrated against students who are even perceived to be lesbian or gay, regardless of what their actual sexual identity may be. I work in middle and high school settings where the word “faggot” is so ubiquitous, I’ve heard it used as a noun, adjective, pronoun, adverb – whatever. And when I did a series of workshops on building self-esteem, stopped the class, and asked them to stop using the word faggot, the principal got a call the next day from a parent who said that her son told her that I was “promoting homosexuality” to the kids in the class.
- We are living in a country in which religious leaders continue to use the Bible and other religious texts to promote hate and intolerance against LGBT individuals. Just visit the Reverend Fred Phelps’ web site, www.godhatesfags.com, where he maintains that the Bible supports such sentiments as GOD HATES FAGS, THANK GOD FOR AIDS, FAGS BURN IN HELL, and more. Phelps also proudly lists a counter enumerating the number of days it’s been since Matthew Shepard, the young man who was beaten, tied to a fence, and left to die in Laramie, WY seven years ago, has been “in hell.” Phelps also boasts a monument his group plans to put up in Casper City Park that reads, in part, “Matthew Shepard entered hell October 12, 1998, in defiance of God’s warning.”
Others do not even feel that LGBT people have the right to identify with any religion or faith group. The Family Research Council says that "[Homosexuality] is the opposite of love for God. It is a rebellion against God and God's natural order, and embodies a deep-seated hatred against true religion.” And two major television stations refused to air a commercial created by the United Church of Christ that was designed to demonstrate what it means to be a welcoming religious community because the stations felt the ad was contrary to the federal Defense of Marriage Act. So much for separation of Church or religion and State.
But rather than look at the country as a whole, let’s not forget for a moment that the threats to safety and legal rights are right here in our own state. Last year, Sakia Gunn, a 15-year-old lesbian in Newark, NJ, was approached by several men who flirted with her. When she and the friend with her told the men they were gay as a way of ending the flirting, a shoving match began and Sakia was stabbed and killed. Also in our state, back in January Assemblyman Rick Merkt from Morris County introduced an amendment to New Jersey’s State Constitution “providing that marriage is solely between a man and a woman." The decision on this – on same-sex marriage overall – should be decided by the State Supreme Court by early next year.
And if we are going to look in our own state – we need to look inside our own backyard as well.
Montclair is, by and large, a welcoming community to lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or transgender people. A few years ago, the Public Library sponsored a program on transgender issues. There’s this wonderful church, and the Rainbow UUnion. There has been an amazing outpouring of support from clergy representing different denominations around same-sex marriage in particular. Many people in Montclair use inclusive language, some store owners have rainbow flags in their windows as symbols of pride or welcoming, and, speaking only for my partner and me, we have never had a problem in any restaurant or shop we’ve been to.
At the same time, however, Montclair still needs work.
- When the domestic partnership law was passed last year in New Jersey, Montclair did NOTHING. Neighboring Maplewood had an unbelievable all-day celebration that invited people from all over the state to come register. They had tables set up, games and music for kids, and people honked their horns in support as they drove by. When one member of our Rainbow UU group went to the town council office here in Montclair to get the registration forms before the event, she was told they didn’t have any and was sent to Bloomfield.
- When the Civil Rights Commission of the Town Council debated the referendum I mentioned earlier, several of its members were openly hostile to the idea. It was voted on and passed by the Civil Rights Commission, but now, over a year later, the town council’s government has neither reviewed nor voted on it. After repeated inquiries, we were finally told that Montclair is no longer making statements on national issues.
- Just two weeks ago, the Montclair Times published a letter to the editor in which a woman protested an ad announcing that a bar in town would now be hosting a regular night for lesbian and gay patrons. The reactions to this letter have ranged from abject disappointment that an establishment valuing diversity offends someone who doesn’t even live in this town and would never patronize that establishment – to indignation that the Times chose to publish such a bigoted letter in the first place.
- Even in Montclair, when lesbian or gay people go to a doctor’s office for the first time and fill out the intake form, we never know whether the term “partner” or “domestic partner” will be included. One member of our congregation went to a doctor’s office here in town where she added the category of “domestic partner” herself – not in defiance, but in the spirit of education. When she brought the form up to the intake nurse, the nurse crossed out what she’d written and marked her “single” – regardless of the fact that she had been in a long-term, committed relationship for 7 years. One man in our community who told a doctor that he was gay was immediately asked whether he had AIDS, even though his somatic complaint had nothing to do with anything related to HIV infection. Transgender individuals are forced to identify as either male or female on intake forms, when these labels may not fit their experience of who they are at all.
Basically, while we are trying to fight the large battles in the courtrooms and in the legislature, we constantly face small battles every single day. We have to make decisions about how we interact with and respond to people in the world around our sexual orientation every single day. We have to decide – “Do we stop and educate people, or do we just continue to be who we are, hoping that they will eventually ‘get it’”? Do we speak up to the nurse who discounts our relationship status, or just accept that, legally, this is where we are right now? When someone asks about our husbands or wives because we are wearing a symbol of commitment – or when they ask about our child’s mommy or daddy when there isn’t one – do we correct that person? Or do we just let all of it go by because these are common questions and we don’t want to embarrass them or ourselves – or, in some cases, put our safety at risk?
Moreover, how do we respond to people who ask, “Why do you care what people think of you?” or “If you didn’t make such a big deal out of it, other people wouldn’t?” These types of questions hold the person being discriminated against responsible for the discrimination, rather than looking to the people who are being insensitive and challenging them to examine their own values and behaviors.
Any person in this room who has ever been discriminated against for ANY reason knows what it feels like to be asked those last two questions. Have any of you been discriminated against? I’m guessing you have. Let me ask – by a show of hands:
- How many of you at some point in your lives have ever felt different from other people – for any reason?
- How many of you at some point in your lives have had someone ridicule you – for any reason?
- How many of you have ever walked down a street, whether during the day or night, and been concerned for your safety?
- How many of you have ever walked down a street, whether during the day or night, and had someone cross the street to avoid you?
- How many of you have ever been criticized because of who you were in a relationship with or married to?
- How many of you have had assumptions made about your child or children because they do not look like you?
- How many of you watch television or go to the movies and find that someone like you – whether in terms of age, race, ethnicity, or culture, orientation, ability, etc. – is not often represented?
- And how many of you have overcome some kind of significant obstacle in your life and felt a great sense of pride as a result?
These are all parts of being lesbian, gay, bisexual, and/or transgender in today’s world – including the experience of overcoming obstacles and feeling pride. And clearly, many of you have shared these experiences already, even if you do not identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender yourself. What we need you to do is take that knowledge of what it is like to be discriminated against, to take your commitment to making social change, to take your deep understanding of what is right and what is wrong on the most basic human level, and join us in our fight to stop being discriminated against. We need your help on the state level, we need your help here in our community. We need your help today.
When you join us in coffee hour this morning, you will have the opportunity to sign on to a letter or petition to show your support for LGBT people, or, if you are LGBT yourself, to remind legislators of who you are, and that you vote. We also invite you, as individuals, partners, or families, to make a pledge to one another – today – to do what you can to fight intolerance and teach people the value of respecting diversity. This might include doing some research on famous LGBT people and discussing their contributions over dinner. It might include pledging to stop someone who makes a gay joke and let them know that it’s not funny. It might include encouraging friends to teach their children about avoiding hurtful language, and to provide them with examples of respectful language. Or it may include something else altogether. Whatever it looks like for you, we need you – we need you to commit to speaking out on our behalf, because we cannot do this alone. And if you already do this, if you already see yourself as a strong ally, or if you are LGBT yourself, what else can you do? How can you take your past successes and reach even more people?
The pink triangle was originally used a symbol of discrimination and hate. It is now, for many, a symbol of survival, of pride, and of hope for the future. But it does not mean for a moment that our fight is over; far from it. As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “No social advance rolls in on the wheels of inevitability. It comes through the tireless efforts and persistent work of dedicated individuals.” And Margaret Mead said: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” We hope you will commit today to taking at least one important step that will enrich our community and, in whatever small way, help to change the world.
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