Silence=Death
UK, 1990s
Alongside the red ribbon and the AIDS Memorial
Quilt, the pink triangle is one of the most striking symbols to
emerge during the AIDS epidemic. Based on a badge that gay inmates
of Nazi concentration camps were forced to wear (alongside the
notorious yellow star for Jews, and the red triangle for political
prisoners), the pink triangle was inverted to point upwards, and
used as a symbol of gay pride in the 1970s. The addition of the
slogan SILENCE=DEATH strengthens the link between Nazi oppression
of gay people and the present. The combination, as presented here,
was adopted by, and remains identified with the campaigning group
ACT UP.