The first nazi book burning was on may 6, 1933: the books being burned came from Magnus Hirschfeld’s Institut für Sexualwissenschaft (Institute of Sex Research), a pioneering force in the understanding and acceptance of queer people. Even after this, we were still there. In the concentration camps, prisoners suspected or perceived to be gay were marked with pink triangle badges. Even after this, we were still there. After the war, West Germany’s laws continued to persecute and imprison people for loving the “wrong” kind of people. Even after this, we were still there.
in the 1980s, we began to understand the HIV/AIDS pandemic, which decimated our communities in the face of a hostile, indifferent administration. We have made strides in handling the disease, but its shadow still looms large over us today. Despite this, we are still here.
Today, our community faces threats from the same forces which burned books, sent us to camps, let us die en masse from disease. They want to force us back into the closet, erase our history, and wipe us out. Regardless of how they try to eradicate us, we will still be here.
Now, maybe more than ever, we need to demonstrate our resilience to our friends, our families, our enemies, and most of all ourselves. We are STILL HERE.
This "Still Here" t-shirt was printed in collaboration with
@gayamericanhell and can be purchased at cleanertapes.limitedrun.com
Proceeds will be donated to
@sisterspgh412 , a Black and Trans led non-profit organization which serves POC, trans and nonbinary people in Southwestern PA.
