The Friends of the Pink Triangle have placed a giant pink triangle on top of Twin Peaks - a mountain in the center of San Francisco - on every Pride Parade weekend since 1995. The Pink Triangle started out as a renegade crafts project, assembled under cover of darkness as protecton from police notice. It's now grown into something large that is appreciated enough for the mayor and many of the city's other elected officials to acknowledge and celebrate. The project has been officially embraced by the city. Mayor Willie Brown christened the triangle on three occasions with a bottle of pink champagne.

Numerous members of the Board of Supervisors have been present for pink triangle events over the years, they have included Board President Tom Ammiano, Mark Leno, Leslie Katz, Aaron Peskin, Sue Bierman and Treasurer Susan Leal. Also attending and speaking have been our Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, Assemblywoman Carole Migden, and the Majority Leader of the California State Assembly, Kevin Shelley.

Governor Gray Davis' office issued an ornate proclamation and former President Clinton, Senator Feinstein and Senator Boxer each sent supportive letters.

Past speakers have shared many aspects of the effects of discrimination:

Dorothy Hajdys-Holman, the mother of Allen Schindler, who was beaten to death in the Navy for being gay, spoke on what happened to her son and why the Hate Crimes Act is important.

In 2003 our guest speaker was Alice Hoglan, the mother of Mark Bingham, the San Francisco gay man believed to have been among the passengers who struggled with terrorists for control of Flight 93 on September 11, 2001.

Our 2004 guest speakers were British talk show host Graham Norton (the emcee), Bruce Vilanchi (who gave the history of the pink triangle), and Sylvia Guerrero (the mother of Gwen Araujo, a transgender 17-year-old who was slain in two years before after acquaintances learned she was anatomically male), who gave the keynote talk.

In 2005 the speakers included Lifetime Achievement winner Grand Marshall "Empress" José Sarria, Ilene Chaiken - the creator and executive producer of Showtime's "The L-Word," actor Alex Mapa, professional football player Esera Tualo, and Ted Phillips of the U.S. Holocaust Museum (Washington D.C.), who gave a speech entitled "History of the Pink Triangle."

In 2006 San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom was our featured guest speaker.

Dependable supporters and honored guests, year after year, include many of San Francisco's elected officials: Assemblyman Mark Leno, Senator Carole Migden, Supervisor Bevan Dufty, Supervisor Tom Ammiano, Treasurer José Cisneros, Susan Leal, and many more.

The San Francisco Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band provides a treasured musical accompaniment year after year; thank you so very much!

Unless otherwise noted, the content of this page is copyrighted 1995-2008 by The Friends of The Pink Triangle under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 license, some rights reserved. Website started by Katie Hickox and David Helton; current design and implementaton by Michael 'Mickey' Sattler.