Epilogue

Abstract

This epilogue details how the rainbow flag replaced the pink triangle as the symbol of the LGBTQ＋ community. The rainbow flag was used most prominently first on the West Coast. That began to change when New York's Heritage of Pride organization adopted the rainbow flag as the international symbol of gay pride in late 1985. Of course, as something that was so fundamental to gay liberation and community, the pink triangle was never entirely replaced. Many LGBTQ＋ people, especially those who had come out between the 1970s and 1990s, saw the pink triangle and rainbow flag as existing in tandem, while each served a different purpose. In recent years, there have been efforts to resurrect the political potency of the pink triangle as a symbol in the global fight against homophobia. The epilogue then explains that the project of creating a more inclusive and equitable national community in the present often drives a reckoning with the past. Eventually, after decades of activism and research by LGBTQ＋ communities, acknowledging and commemorating the fate of queer people during the Third Reich have become a part of Germany's coming to terms with its past.