What is the pink triangle? How a Nazi symbol became an emblem of LGBTQ+ rights
03/17/25
Representatives of the ACT UP Dublin group walking with banners in the Dublin LGBTQ Pride Festival in 2019
Wirestock Creators/Shutterstock
No symbol has experienced a more drastic one-eighty than the pink triangle.
What originally began as a symbol of shame in Nazi Germany has since been reclaimed as a symbol of LGBTQ+ Pride... only for the president of the United States to once again use it as a symbol of hate. Donald Trump sparked fury when he re-posted an article about his anti-LGBTQ+ military policies that featured the pink triangle with a red slash over it — which is used as a "no" symbol.
But what is the pink triangle, and what does it really symbolize? Read more to find out.
What is the meaning of the pink triangle?
A man placed a wreath at the monument of the memorial to gay and lesbian victims in Cologne, Germany on January 27, 2023 during the international holocaust remembrance day.
Ying Tang/NurPhoto via Getty Images
The pink triangle was used to identify LGBTQ+ prisoners in concentration camps under Nazi Germany. It has since been reclaimed by queer activists as a symbol for the community, and has been featured in countless Holocaust tributes, AIDs memorials, and other acts of advocacy across the last several decades.
Where does the pink triangle come from?
TK CAPTION - see above
Historical Contributor/Corbis via Getty Images
LGBTQ+ prisoners kept in concentration camps were forced to wear an upside down pink triangle on their uniforms to mark them as queer.
Homosexual acts had been outlawed in Germany since 1871 under Paragraph 175 of the German Penal Code, but authorities rarely enforced the laws, allowing LGBTQ+ communities to thrive in places like Berlin. As the Nazis rose to power, they toughened the nation's laws regarding sex between men and in 1935 began sentencing violators to ten years of forced labor.
It's estimated that over 15,000 gay men were sent to concentration camps in Nazi Germany, where the pink triangle designated them for even harsher treatment, such as castration or medical experiments. Though hard data about them is not available, historians believe countless transgender and lesbian people also died in Nazi captivity.
After the Allies liberated concentration camps at the end of World War II, they decided not to remove Paragraph 175 from German law. LGBTQ+ prisoners were not recognized as victims of the Nazis, and many gay men were forced to finish their prison sentences.
Has the pink triangle been reclaimed?
TK CAPTION - see aboveBrooks Kraft LLC/Sygma via Getty ImagesThe pink triangle was used by LGBTQ+ activists as early as the 1960s, but it became more widely adopted during the 1980s as a symbol of resistance in response to the AIDs epidemic. It was most prominently featured by the advocacy group Act Up, which flipped the triangle to point upwards.
Act Up's use of the triangle was a purposeful reference to the Nazis, often pairing it with the slogans "Silence = Death" or "Never forget." The sayings, which have been used in anti-genocide movements, deliberately compared the U.S. government's failure to address the epidemic to a willful act of violence against queer people.
How does the pink triangle still affect people today?
The receding fog reveals the giant pink triangle installed on Twin Peaks to kick off Pride weekend festivities in San Francisco, Calif. on Saturday, June 29, 2019.
Paul Chinn/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images
Pink triangles are now used in Pride celebrations and LGBTQ+ memorials across the world. The symbol serves as a reminder of the unfair persecution the queer community has received throughout history, as well as a call to not allow the world to revert to such times.
The city of San Francisco, California displays a giant pink triangle over the city every June to both honor past victims and acknowledge the ongoing attacks against the LGBTQ+ community in the U.S. today.
Over 1,000 anti-LGBTQ+ laws have been proposed across every state legislature in the U.S. over the past two years, according to the American Civil Liberties Union, and 126 have passed into law. Less than two months into the 2025 legislative session, 511 laws targeting LGBTQ+ people have been proposed.
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