Polish Activists Plan Gay Holocaust Memorial...

Face Opposition From Both Sides

Following in the footsteps of their Berliner brethren, a group of gay activists in Warsaw have revealed plans to erect a pink triangle commemorating the fagalas and lesbianicas who perished at the hands of the National Socialist party. Now, over 60 years after the liberation of Auschwitz, founder of Citizens’ Initiative to Commemorate Gays and Lesbians, Lukasz Palucki and his allies has made a push to memorialize thousands of dead.

We have to build this monument so that the people will not forget the thousands of gays who were murdered in the concentration camps of Poland... World War II is evidence that intolerance, anti-Semitism and homophobia lead to concentration camps. History has proved that hated towards other groups leads to homicide... It’s time to commemorate all the homosexuals murdered in Nazi concentration camps.
While Palucki and company have the support of a number of Polish politicians and activists, not all of his peers are so gung-ho.

Fellow queer activist and head of Campaign Against Homophobia Robert Biedron worries the monument would only fuel anti-gay sentiment: It is not a wise idea... I think that such a monument can only make people turn away from gay community. It will be taken as litigious.

Meanwhile, some promiment politicians voiced opposition not so much to the monument, but to homosexuality in general. Politician Marek Makuch vented: It is a devastating idea and we shall not agree to this... I have not seen in Warsaw a monument for Catholic priests or disabled people... The triangle would be a promotion of homosexuality. We cannot compare Warsaw with Berlin – Berlin is the capitol of European homosexuality, and here we have our values... Berlin's the capital of European homosexuality? Must be all the fisting and leather...

While we're all about a monument for to commemorate the fags and all, Palucki suggests the pink triangle: the symbol favored by the Nazi's to identify queers. We think that's a bit tired. It should be something a little more uplifting. Perhaps a phoenix rising from the ashes. Oh, wait, that may not be the best idea...

January 16, 2007

From: http://www.queerty.com/queer/news/polish-activists-plan-gay-holocaust-memorial-20070116.php?rss