This week we cover the Pink Triangle and the Nazi persecution of homosexuals. Once a home of vibrant queer progressiveness, Germany dissolved into a dark place of bigotry, anti-semitism and extreme homophobia. We trace Hitler’s dissent of hate from his overthrow of power in 1933 to the end of the war. As he ordered thousands of gay men imprisoned in concentration camps alongside the Jewish prisoners. Forced to face the fate of hard labor, torture, medical experiments, rape, starvation, and death. These men endured the horrors of the Holocaust along with millions more. We do want to warn our listeners that we discuss extreme violence and that this episode may not be suitable for all. But for those who can, we challenge you to learn about this important piece of history. Because if we do not learn about the past, we will repeat the past. Today we discuss one of the darkest times in our world history. A time when several minority groups were singled out and persecuted by an evil regime. And as has so often been the case, our queer siblings were among the persecuted. As you mingled in a pride festival this past month or waved your hands at passing parades; perhaps as you marched in a parade yourself. You most certainly saw a few upside-down pink triangles. Either on banners or small pins worn on jackets and t-shirts. Often accompanied by the phrase Silence = Death. And perhaps you wondered what these pins symbolized. Or maybe you know they stem from the concentration camps during World War II. Either way, today we are going on a journey back in time and across the ocean to Germany 1933. A crowded stadium resounded in cheers as the new chancellor of Germany stepped up to the microphone. It was January 30, 1933, and the Nazi party had won their election with 230 votes, almost double that of any other party. A small man – with an atrocious mustache – stepped forward and began to address the crowd. As his brief speech hit it’s peek he cried: Peasants, workers, and bourgeoisie must all join together to provide the building blocks for the new Reich. The government will, therefore, regard it as its first and foremost duty to re-establish Volksgemeinschaft – the unity of spirit and will of our volk. It will preserve and defend the foundations upon which the power of our nation rests. It will extend its strong, protecting hand over Christianity as the basis of our entire morality, and the family as the germ cell of the body of our Volk and State. It will reawaken in our volk, beyond the borders of rank and class, its sense of national and political unity, and its resultant duties. It will establish reverence for our great past and pride in our old traditions as the basis for the education of our German youth. It will declare a merciless war against spiritual, political and cultural nihilism. Germany must not and will not drown in anarchistic communism… The stands thundered with applause and adoration. Finally, a hero to save the Christian population from the threats to their nation. Of course, we know the biggest threat to their spiritual revamping was the Jews. And in the following decade over two-thirds of Jewish individuals living in Europe would be killed by the Nazis. The rest would be rounded up and imprisoned in horrendous concentration camps. These would be their homes for over 10 years. As they suffered incredible physical abuse, forced labor, torture, and every indignity known to man. But while the Jews were the primary target, there were other groups who also suffered at the hands of evil. They were called “undesirables”, and their undesirable traits were marked on their clothing with colored upside-down triangles. Red was for political prisoners, Green for criminals, Blue for immigrants, Purple for Jehovah’s Witnesses, Brown for gypsies, Black for anti-socials, and Pink for homosexuals. If an individual was a Jew, their upside down triangle would overlap a right s...