“It’s a Scar, but in Your Heart”

Abstract

This chapter traces the process of how the pink triangle became the most widespread and recognizable symbol of gay rights during the 1970s and 1980s. As in West Germany, the pink triangle in the United States pointed to a more just future in which queer people enjoyed equal rights and civil liberties in their own national context. Amid the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s, a group of artist-activists formed a collective and designed the iconic “Silence = Death” poster, which featured an upturned fuchsia triangle. When the organization AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) adopted the poster in 1987, it catapulted the pink triangle into mainstream consciousness around the globe. Moreover, it repositioned the history of the Holocaust and homophobia into contemporary discourses on health, disease, sexuality, and the relationship between governments and their citizens.