Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico – Congratulations on another year of celebrating gay pride here in beautiful and gay-friendly Puerto Vallarta. Our first Gay Pride events here began in 2013. Except for the cancellation in 2020 because of the COVID pandemic, festivities have grown and flourished in this past decade. Certainly, it is a time for celebrations – bring on the biodegradable confetti! It is also a time for reflection and for understanding where we and the world are at this critical point in time.
It is tempting to start our reflection in New York with the Stonewall Riots in 1969 and the subsequent Christopher Street Liberation Day march, which was the first Gay Pride march in 1970. However, it is perhaps more important today to reflect on a longer timeline.
Going back 50 years farther, the city of Berlin, Germany had an active and substantially open gay culture, particularly in the 1920s. Numerous gay-oriented establishments and organizations thrived despite Paragraph 175 of the German Penal Code (established in 1871), which criminalized homosexual acts between men.
When the Nazis came to power in 1933, they closed The Eldorado night club which was famous for its drag performances. It was turned in an SA (a paramilitary organization used to enforce Adolf Hitler’s orders and declarations) headquarters complete with swastikas and pro-Hitler posters. The LGBTQ were then increasingly targeted through various legislations, denunciations, and orders.
Some of the LGBTQ in Berlin may have believed that they had protection from Nazis because of Hitler’s long-term friendship with Ernst Röhm who was head of the SA and who had affirmed being homosexual in letters. Hitler had even named him a Reichsleiter, the second highest political rank in the Nazi Party.
Nevertheless, Röhm was arrested at the beginning of “Night of the Long Knives” on June 30, 1934, at a hotel where several other high-ranking SA were also arrested. Some were shot and killed on the spot. The next day, SS-Brigadeführer Theodor Eicke (later commandant of the Dachau concentration camp) and SS-Obersturmbannführer Michael Lippert shot and killed Röhm in his cell.
Adolf Hitler’s series of political extrajudicial executions during the so-called Night of the Long Knives consolidated his power. At least 85 people died during this purge, although the final death toll may have been in the hundreds. Estimates range as high as 700 to 1000.
More than 1000 perceived enemies were arrested. By eliminating those who might stand up to him, the purge strengthened the support of the military for Hitler. It also provided the legal grounding for the Nazis because the German courts and cabinet swept aside legal prohibitions against the extrajudicial killings to demonstrate their loyalty.
“While some Germans were shocked by the killings, many others saw Hitler as the one who restored ‘order’ to the country. [Nazi Propaganda Minister] Joseph Goebbels publicized that Röhm and other SA leaders were homosexuals to add ‘shock value,’ even though Hitler and other Nazi leaders had known for years.” 1
From the time the Nazis were in power until 1945, police arrested about 100,000 men for allegedly violating paragraph 175. Approximately half were convicted and between 5,000-15,000 were imprisoned in concentration camps. Life was brutal in the camps- inhumane living conditions, inadequate nutrition, forced strenuous labor, beatings by guards, and murder. Homosexuals were made to wear the pink triangle. It was the lowest rank of the incarcerated.
Forty years later, the triangle was reclaimed in the 1970s by pro-gay activists. And again, in the depth of the AIDS Crisis in the US. The AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) adopted the SILENCE=DEATH project poster featuring the pink triangle. The phrase visually illustrates the deadly consequences of inaction and silence in the face of injustice and the epidemic. Conversely, ACT UP’s activism demonstrated the power of direct action and collective organizing. It was highly effective influencing government policies, accelerating drug development and testing, and changing public perceptions of HIV/AIDS.
So, what does this history of the pink triangle have to do with being proud today? Answer: a lot; maybe everything. When people recognize and accept their place in LGBTQ, they become part of a community with a culture and history that includes marginalization and too often horrific oppression. It is a culture that has overcome barriers through its work, changed laws to move us toward equality, and yes, also changed the hearts and minds of our families, our neighbors, our employers, and our lawmakers.
As another example, after more than a decade of advocacy, LGBTQ organizations such as Love Makes a Family were successful in several states to achieve legalization of same-sex marriage. In 2015, the US Supreme’s Court’s Obergefell v. Hodges ruled that the Defense of Marriage Act was unconstitutional and effectively guaranteed same-sex marriage throughout the US. It was a landmark decision and a pivotal hard-fought moment toward gaining equality.
Of course, this decision has not been codified by legislation and remains even easier to be overturned than Roe v. Wade was in 2022. Legislative and judicial rulings and Executive Orders attack the civil rights of LGBTQ virtually daily. We are once again in a critical moment. Do we pivot to solidifying our hard-fought gains or lose them or worse (as they did in Berlin in the 1930s)? The direction depends on our people channeling our resources of experience, expertise, energy, time, and financial commitment.
Now usually inverted from the Nazi designation, the pink triangle with its point up remains an honored symbol of the historic oppression of Gay communities and our resistance. Wear it with pride. Do not be silent or inactive!
This year, Democrats Abroad is sponsoring a screening of the movie Bent. We will be meeting at Nacho Daddy on May 20, from 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm at Basilio Badillo 287, in the Puerto Vallarta Zona Romantica.
This film is an adaptation of Martin Sherman’s award-winning stage play of the same name. It remains a cautionary tale for our time. Set in Nazi Germany, Max is sent to the Dachau concentration camp. He tries to deny that he is homosexual and manages to get a yellow star (for Jews) instead of the pink triangle (for gays). In camp, he falls in love with fellow prisoner Horst, who wears his pink triangle with pride. Check it out!
It is important to remember that 11 million people were murdered by the Nazis. This does not count the millions of military and civilian victims of World War II. Six million of those murdered were Jews; most were not from Germany, but from Eastern Europe.
The five million non-Jewish people murdered include ethic Poles, Serbs, Roma, Jehovah’s Witnesses, men accused of homosexuality, Black people in Germany, and political opponents of Hitler. About 1.5 million were children. Whenever some people are marginalized and targeted, others have followed. Whenever cruelty and violence are sanctioned, they become lethal. This history is a horrific cautionary tale. Silence=Death!
1 Kershaw, Ian (2008). Hitler: A Biography. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-0-393-06757-6.
Written by Clint Harris the Chapter-Chair of the Costa Banderas Chapter of Democrats Abroad Mexico. With country committees and local chapters in over 80 countries around the world, Democrats Abroad is the official Democratic Party organization for the millions of Americans living outside the United States. For more information about the Costa Banderas Chapter of Democrats Abroad, click HERE, or write Clint at Info-MX-CostaBanderas@democratsabroad.org.