Arson of Pink Triangle

June 29, 2009 Posted by Matthew Conaster in Crime & Punishment

Arson investigators are still trying to determine what caused a fire that damaged the Pink Triangle on San Francisco's Twin Peaks Sunday morning just hours before the city's annual Pride Parade was set to kick off.

"Right now investigators are looking at all possible sources of ignition," San Francisco Fire Department Lt. Mindy Talmadge said.

The triangle, which overlooks the city atop a large hill at San Francisco's Twin Peaks, is a fabric installation that is set up each year during Pride Week as a symbol of gay liberation and human rights. The symbol was used by the Nazi government during World War II to identify and stigmatize gays. It has since come to stand as a commemoration of those who were persecuted in Germany and a symbol of gay liberation. More information can be found at their website.

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The blaze was reported at about 5 a.m. near Christmas Tree Point Road and was extinguished about 30 minutes later. A 25-by-30 foot area was damaged, Talmadge said.

"This is just a really horrible thing to have happen. It's very sad on gay pride day that some idiot would sabotage our symbol of overcoming oppression," said Jeanine Reisbig, who was at the site surveying the damage Sunday morning.

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