Pink Triangle

LGSA members would hang a cardboard pink triangle, a symbol of gay pride, out the window of their office, signaling to other members that they were there. They also created a large, wooden version of it that they laid out on the Main Green during Gay Awareness Week. This triangle was vandalized and burned several times while on the Green during the mid 80s. LGSA members stood guard and slept inside the office to monitor the triangle and protect its presence on campus—an extension of their own safety and belonging.

Image of "Pink Triangle" Section Label

Geri Journal Entry- "Faunce Pink Triangle Poll"

"Faunce Pink Triangle Poll"

Geri, Journal 6, c. 1990

Transcription:

2/9/90

One more day of being 18…

I was looking at Faunce today + something occurred to me - remember (I don’t actually, I wasn’t here yet) when we were forbidden to hang the [pink triangle drawing] out the window because “it looks sloppy when people hang things out windows.” (yeah, right) - well, people hang those decrepit - or not so decrepit - pointed laundry sheets out there ALL the time off the Memorial Room or the Leung Balcony, and heck we have a clause now, a real one, and I think we’ve got good grounds for being able to hang our symbol advertising our gatherings out our window. I’d like to see the university try to give us a good reason why we can’t hang out our [pink triangle drawing] when we’re here. What say, all - think we should start again?

Geri

[Picture of Faunce with pink triangles out windows]

Yes! Geri you;re the greatest! Love, your silly roomie Carole

I also had a small idea in relation to Cori’s sheep cartoon. Howsabout suggesting )either directly or in a letter to BDH_ that the policy be on the basis of “gender preference” instead of :sexual preference.” Would that dam up most of the controversy (except for sheep lovers?) just wondering, Adam

Oral History Quote

[Speaking about the administrative response to the pink triangle hanging out the window of Faunce House] It's not about the sloppiness, you know. Frats put up sloppy bed sheets with their greek letters all the time. That wasn't a problem, if you're going to talk sloppy. We had this cardboard, possibly actual wood board, triangle that would hang out the window. It was just getting that prejudice you know, and you can see below it, there's a little poll. “Should we start hanging our triangle out again?” You can see how there's a poll in that entry, where people could say yes or no about something. So that's like, a little predecessor of the internet poll.

-Geri speaking about the pink triangle hanging out the window of Faunce House, and the administrative response.

BDH Pink Triangle Articles

"Gay Lesbian Symbol, Triangle Destroyed"

Peter DeChiara

Brown Daily Herald

12/13/1982

Transcription: Ashes and a wire frame were all that remained of the pink cloth triangle erected last week by the Brown-RISD Lesbian/Gay Student Alliance (LGSA) after it was burned early Friday morning. The triangle, a symbol of gay solidarity, had marked Brown's first Gay Awareness Week. Despite the burning of the triangle, LGSA members said they were satisfied with Gay Awareness Week. About 1,000 students signed the petition to have the phrase "sexual orientation" added to Brown's non-discrimination clause and many attended the film and discussion session Thursday night.

"Students protesting pink triangle burning"

Tia Wou

Brown Daily Herald

12/14/1982

Transcription: "We Shall Overcome"- Singing this song in the biting cold, about 60 students gathered on the Green yesterday at noon to protest the Friday burning of the Lesbian/Gay Student Alliance's Gay Awareness Week display, a pink triangle set up outside Faunce House.

Oral History Quotes

I remember when we finally realized that it was a big trek for people to go up to the third floor of Faunce House for the office hours, if nobody was there. So we created a pink triangle that we could hang out the window, and if you were having office hours, you'd hang it out the window, and everybody was like, “That's amazing!” But it kept blowing around. So I'm like, “Okay, what are we gonna do?” So we decided we need to tape some weight to it to keep it from slapping around. Cleverly, we taped some knives that we had from the dining hall because they were heavy, taped them all on, Then we taped several stacks of these, little mini posters that were for the tables at events that had passed. We taped them on, and it was nice and heavy, then we put it out. And at some point, all the tape gave way. The knives crashed, the [posters] flew all over the whole area. So I just remember we're all down there, running around, trying to desperately pick these all up before somebody thought we were trying to cause huge problems. Like, “Where did the knives go?” Oh my god. I'm so glad we didn't kill anyone.

-Annette Huddle speaking about sticking knives to the back of the pink triangle, in order to weigh it down as it hung out the Faunce House window

We had an enormous pink triangle out in the yard and, this might be something that comes up in other people's memories, but it kept being destroyed. And that was, we understood, a threat to us physically. And so that led to a huge discussion on campus. It really put lesbian gay issues at the center of debate in those years. (...) I was afraid [the administration] would’ve told us, “Don’t display this, you’re making trouble.” Remember, we’re supposed to be troublemakers. Instead what they did was they arranged a light to be shown on it, and we had guards, people taking turns, from above where we had our offices, I can’t remember the name of the building now, but facing the yard. There was always someone looking down during the night, to make sure there was nothing happening. And in fact, a drunk guy did try to attack, or began to attack, the triangle when one of us was posted, and that person immediately called the police. And the campus police came and got him. (...) That’s how in the end I think the campus was far more supportive, as represented by this caring for our symbol in the yard.

-Andrés Zervigon speaking about Pink Triangle Watch and the administrative response

I remember sleeping in the office, or staying up all night, on Pink Triangle Guard Watch. (...) And the triangle was on the green, so you could see it from the window. And people would watch it all night. I think that was the year after it got burned, or two years after it got burned. That just became part of the ritual, it was that you would pull a shift. Two people would sign up to pull shifts. I do remember one time, which brought a lot of pride to me. Someone had kicked it over, or tried to knock it down, or turn it apart. And one of the black fraternities that was pledging, that was on line, they re-set it back up as they marched across campus in the middle of the night. And that always meant a lot to me.

-Derek Livingston speaking about Pink Triangle Watch, and seeing a black fraternity set the Pink Triangle back up after being vandalized

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