madera LGBTQ+: yes, we live here!

Howdy there, Madtown– enjoying the excruciating summer heat? I know I’m NOT!

It’s my pleasure to welcome you to the LGBTQ+ section of the Madera Youth Activity & Resource Book! This section includes a look back on LGBTQ+ history, music, film, and a fun little coloring activity page.

I hope that these findings of LGBTQ+ memorabilia interest you, and that we can continue to provide content like this in future issues!

For LGBTQ+ resources, visit: linktr ee/maderalgbtq OR scan this QR code ➜

LGBTQ+ history: the pink triangle

(Content Warning: Before you read, please be advised the following contains a brief discussion about Homophobia, World War II and Nazis.)

Before World War II, did you know that Germany was one of the leading countries in research and activist reform work for acceptance of homosexuality? Perhaps you were not aware, unless you did some digging into history books. It can be difficult to find historical documentation regarding LGBTQ+ history, and we must acknowledge that the presence of LGBTQ+ communities have gone through many forms of erasure, similar to the experience of other marginalized groups. The stories and experience of LGBTQ+ people couldn’t be seen, heard or told.

The story of the “Pink Triangle” is a painful one to re-tell, but it is one that is quite important to mention. The pink triangle became a reclaimed symbol for the gay liberation movement during the 1970s in America, as well as an international symbol for gay rights

During WWII, as noted in Finding Out: An Intro to LGBTQ Studies, “the pink triangle [was] used to identify homosexual men so that they could be singled out and persecuted in the Nazi concentration camps.” As many as 100,000 men were captured by Nazis, who identified these men as homosexuals, and were sent to concentration camps.

This act was a consequence of an 1871 german penal code called Paragraph 175. This code outlawed sodomy souly between men, not amongst women. Unfortunately, even post-WWII, pink triangle prisoners were still classified as criminals due to paragraph 175, and if they got caught, they would be re-imprisoned, despite being freed (An Introduction to LGBTQ Studies, 61).