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View Full Version : The Origins of the Bisexual Triangle Symbol



Skater Boy
Aug 28, 2007, 10:35 PM
Well, for those that don't know, one of the symbols that represents Bisexuality is the double triangle:

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y97/JBASHORUN/Bi_triangles.jpg

I know that "flags", etc are not so important to some. But many use them as an outward symbol of their sexuality, just as the 100% gay community has their flags and symbols that they like to use.

Anyway, I recently discovered what this particular symbol meant, and how it originated:

In Hitler's Germany, Gay people were considered as much a threat as the Jews. I hadn't fully realized this until now. but apparently up to 15,000 Gay people were murdered in Nazi concentration camps. Before they died, they are said to have undergone inhuman torture and suffering, including being experimented on by German hormone scientists and used as target practise by SS soldiers.

The "mark" that the Nazis used to clearly identify homosexuals was: the pink triangle:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_triangle

It is this pink triangle... coupled with a blue one to denote that we are not entirely homosexual, that features in the Bisexual double-triangle symbol.

Having become aware of its origins, I'm not entirely sure that I want to incorporate it into anything I make or do. Unless I can somehow change its significance and reassign a new meaning to the symbol. But I just thought I'd share its origins in case any of you who have items featuring it weren't aware of it. Personally, I think I'd opt for the :flag2: instead.

Oh, and also... next time everyone in the older generation says "never again!" and talks of the horrors of the Holocaust, remember that it was not just Jews... that we too were/would also have been persecuted and put to death.

Anyway, enough... sorry to rant about such an unpleasant subject! :soapbox:

[edit: ps: just found out that one of the symbols of lesbian pride is a black triangle, and this is also thought to have originated in the same way as the pink triangle: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_triangle_%28badge%29 is this a positive thing or a negative one?]

shameless agitator
Aug 28, 2007, 10:43 PM
I've been well aware of the history of the periwinkle (pink triangle). It's part of the reason I like the overlapping triangles as a symbol. Gay pride/rights activists have taken the symbol back so effectively, that the idea of using it negatively would never occur to people any more. We see the same thing happen with words and symbols all the time. When was the last time you heard queer used as an insult? I'm a big believer in appropriating the trappings of the oppressors & making them harmless.

Skater Boy
Aug 28, 2007, 10:58 PM
I've been well aware of the history of the periwinkle (pink triangle). It's part of the reason I like the overlapping triangles as a symbol. Gay pride/rights activists have taken the symbol back so effectively, that the idea of using it negatively would never occur to people any more. We see the same thing happen with words and symbols all the time. When was the last time you heard queer used as an insult? I'm a big believer in appropriating the trappings of the oppressors & making them harmless.

Thats an interesting way of thinking! Where I live "gay, queer, fag, homo" and other such words are used regularly by some straight kids as insults (and by "kids", I mean people below the age of 30). lol, see... we can reclaim the Pink Triangle from the most evil men in the world, yet we can't even prevent our own sexual adjectives being used as profanities by kids in the street.

For me though, the when I see the pink triangle its sometimes hard not to remember the atrocities that originally accompanied it. at least now that I've read the gory details of what went on.

But your right that "reclaiming" the symbol would be a good tactic. I'm just not sure if thats been successfully done yet... it takes a lot of good to overpower such terrible evil.

Sapphocomplex
Aug 29, 2007, 3:10 AM
I completely see where u both come from. I just moved to Portland, OR and our queer community here is so strong and visible. Where i came from in California this really wasnt the case. Any homosexual related word was most always being used to bash there, but i have yet to hear anything like that here. Some places just seem to be more evolved. no?

the mage
Aug 29, 2007, 9:13 AM
The bigger the city the more poisonous can be the insults hurled at strangers.

All I can say is that here in Toronto with its huge bi and gay communities I have not seen the triangles used. There is or was, a Pink Triangle Press here.(newspaper)

The 2 flags are seen all over.

Oppression is the true perversion.

MarieDelta
Aug 29, 2007, 12:13 PM
I like using the pink triangle and etc.. In doing so I remember those that died because of prejudice and hatred. Those who died because they would not change who they were.

There will always be evil people on the earth, that is just the nature of the beast. However, Good will always trimumph in the end.

:2cents:

dafydd
Aug 29, 2007, 12:21 PM
I like using the pink triangle and etc.. In doing so I remember those that died because of prejudice and hatred. Those who died because they would not change who they were.

There will always be evil people on the earth, that is just the nature of the beast. However, Good will always trimumph in the end.

:2cents:

Don't forget that LGBT activisits appropriated the symbol and INVERTED it.
But I understand where SB is coming from. use the flag.
d