What Is ‘Pink Triangle’? Trump Truthing Nazi-Era Symbol Sparks LGBTQ Anger

President Trump ‘re-Truthed’ a story to his Truth Social platform which included a graphic of the Pink Triangle, a symbol used to target gay men in Nazi Germany.

The story he was reposting was an opinion piece by The Washington Times correspondent Jeremy Hunt praising the Trump Administration and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth for banning transgender troops from the military.

LGBTQ+ publications and many people on X (formerly Twitter) have expressed concern over the President reposting an image of the infamous symbol.

The White House and The Washington Times have been contacted via email for comment.

Main: Screenshot of Trump’s Truth Social re-post. Inset: President Donald Trump pumps his fist before departing on Marine One from the South Lawn of the White House, Friday, March 7, 2025, in Washington.

Inset: Alex Brandon/Main: Truth Social, Inset: AP Photo

Why It Matters

This marks the third time someone in or close to the Trump administration has been accused of demonstrating symbolism that can be tied to the Nazis. Trump advisors Elon Musk and Steve Bannon have both done ‘Roman Salutes’ at the inauguration and at CPAC. Now, the President has shared the thumbnail for a piece which included an image of the Pink Triangle, a symbol directly tied to concentration camps.

What is a Pink Triangle

The downward Pink Triangle was the gay equivalent of the yellow star for Jewish people under the Nazis.

It was used to mark out gay and transgender people in concentration camps. People marked with the Pink Triangle were subjected to horrific treatment, including medical experiments, castration, and mass execution.

The triangles were pink to call out gay men’s supposed “femininity.” Although some lesbians also wore the pink triangle, most were forced to wear a black triangle, which depicted them as ‘asocial,’ due to them not being a part of the Nazi’s idealized family structure.

The Pink Triangle was reappropriated by the gay community during the AIDS epidemic by AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) activists. The triangle was turned right-side-up to show that gay people were standing up to oppressive forces.

It was used in the Silence = Death campaign to raise awareness about the AIDS epidemic, and to criticize the government’s inaction on the virus.

Modern uses of the Pink Triangle can be an homage to ACT UP or to gay and trans people who were murdered by the Nazis and were forgotten by history for a long time.

San Francisco Pink Triangle — atrick Carney, center, Co-Founder of Friends of the Pink Triangle, works with volunteers laying out pink tarps to form the shape of a pink triangle on Twin Peaks in San Francisco, Friday, June 16, 2023….

Haven Daley/AP Photo

What To Know

The Washington Times is a news outlet owned by the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity. Their opinion piece thumbnail included the Pink Triangle that was crossed out. This was the image that appeared on Truth Social when the President posted the story.

The piece praised the President for his anti-transgender policies. This post was one of many news stories reposted yesterday by the President, most of the stories are praising Trump.

What People Are Saying

Jeremy Hunt in The Washington Times: “For most presidents, major cultural change in our nation’s armed forces doesn’t happen overnight. It usually takes years for a commander in chief to leave a mark on the military. But President Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth are accomplishing what often takes years in a matter of weeks. This administration’s undoing of Biden-era distractions and the refocusing of the Pentagon on lethality are moving at breakneck pace. Those of us who have served in our nation’s military couldn’t be more thankful.”