The Pink Triangle, once a symbol of one of the darkest chapters in human history is now embraced as a symbol of hope and inclusion. It has long been the center of the annual San Francisco City Pride celebration.
As of 2020, the Pink Triangle is now illuminated – making it more vibrant than ever. The monumental installation is made by Illuminate, the nonprofit behind the lights at Bay Bridge, and features 2,700 LED nodes of pink light. This installation – covering an area of one acre, will serve as an enduring symbol of San Francisco’s resilience.
For the past 26 years, hundreds of volunteers have gathered near the top of Twin Peaks to install The Pink Triangle. Led by founder and longtime LGBTQ+ activist Patrick Carney, this gigantic hillside installation can be seen from across the San Francisco Bay every Pride Weekend.
In 2020 for the 50th anniversary of SF Pride, Carney teamed up with Illuminate (the nonprofit behind The Bay Lights) and with Patricia Suflita Wilson, the media maven behind the worldwide viral BatKid Make-A-Wish campaign, to electrify the efforts to Illuminate the Pink Triangle. This year, a team will again install the thousands of pink LED nodes, creating a vibrant acre of light and revealing a mesmerizing, elegant civic focal point.
“Part of commemorating any Pride Weekend is remembering where we have been,” Patrick Carney, the creator of the Pink Triangle, says. “It is a highly visible, yet silent reminder of inhumanity. It recalls one of the darkest chapters of human history, yet it has been reclaimed, to become a powerful symbol of hope, inclusion, love and resiliency.”
“Our City has lived through a modern-day pandemic, demonstrating great care and compassion,” says Ben Davis, Founder and CEO of Illuminate. “We have an important lesson to share now. Lighting the Pink Triangle is an opportunity to honor history, inform the present, and shape a brighter, more equitable future.”
Illuminate the Pink Triangle has an ongoing fundraising campaign you can contribute to here. Contributions are 100 percent tax-deductible and go toward the Pink Triangle account at SF Pride, which has long been the project’s fiscal sponsor.
Illuminate is donating services and expertise to realize this civic project.
And here is the limited-edition, hand-crafted necklace created by James Cole in consultation with Illuminate. This is the stainless steel version, it emits a pink light: to be worn with PRIDE! It will be gifted to some happy few, and might become available for purchase later…
PINK TRIANGLE DETAILS
- First year of the Pink Triangle: 1996
- Size: almost 200 feet in diameter, covering approximately one acre
- Illuminated Pink Triangle: 2,700 LED nodes, 43 rows of lights
- Measurements: 100 feet along the top, 200 feet along sides
- Social media hashtag: #ThePinkTriangle
ILLUMINATE
- Established in 2011, in conjunction with the creation of The Bay Lights
- Mission: “Illuminate rallies large groups of people together to create impossible works of public art that, through awe, free humanity’s better nature.”
- Notable Bay Area projects: the Bay Lights, Harvey’s Halo, Conservatory of Flowers, Grace Light at Grace Cathedral
SF PRIDE
- Established: 1970 as “Gay Freedom Day”
- #Pride52 Celebration information here
- Theme this year: Love Will keep Us Together
