REMEMBER....1/27/2012

JANUARY 27 is INTERNATIONAL HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY. What is important to remember and so OFTEN overlooked is that the HOLOCAUST happened to more than just the Jews. In addition to the six million people of the Jewish faith that were BRUTALLY murdered...those considered gypsies, mentally or physically handicapped and ALL KNOWN HOMOSEXUALS were sent to the camps. That's right...the gays. The upside down pink triangle so commonly known as a symbol of gay rights was once the most dreaded symbol in the camps. If you were forced to wear the pink triangle..not only were you beaten and sexually assaulted by the Nazi guards..you were also prey to everyone else in the camp. Sadly, some of the homosexuals that came out of the camps described being beaten, shunned and spit on by heterosexual prisoners. The pink triangle was considered the lowest of the low. Some gays begged for the Jewish Yellow Star instead. In addition, those that actually survived the camps were promptly imprisoned in most of the countries where they were released because at the time many places still criminalized homosexuality. We often hear people say, NEVER AGAIN in regards to the HOLOCAUST...and yet whereas we have moved past the day and age where people of other faiths can credibly and without repercussion say negative things about the Jewish faith and it's followers...it is still acceptable to many Americans to call homosexuals horrible names, to allow gay youth to be bullied in the name of religion and to march around proclaiming you are a Christian while brandishing a GOD HATES FAGS sign. The Jews were blamed by the Nazis for the decline of the German civilization, thus it was easy for Hitler to convince the general Christian population to become complicit in rounding up the entire Jewish population and shipping them off. Fundamentalist Christians blame homosexuals for the decline of American civilization and frequently call for rounding up homosexuals for the good of society. The fight is not over...it has just begun. Until it is UNACCEPTABLE and ILLEGAL for anyone to discriminate against homosexuals..until EQUALITY in the workplace, marriage and the community is the LAW of the land and we as a country leave behind the belief that human rights can be legislated...then gays and lesbians (and their allies) everywhere must be constantly vigilant. Left to the fundamentalists and the right wing....it COULD happen again. In REMEMBRANCE OF THE MILLIONS THAT DIED because of their faith, their creed, their color and THEIR SEXUALITY. Will Kolb 1/27/2013