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Remarks by German Consul General Rolf Schuette at the Pink Triangle Ceremony on Twin Peaks, San Francisco, Saturday, June 28, 2008

Good morning everybody, Mr. Mayor, Senator Migden, Assemblyman Leno, Supervisors Ammiano and Dufty, Ladies and Gentlemen, Good morning everybody,

it’s a great honor and pleasure for me and my partner to be invited once again to a Pink Triangle ceremony on Twin Peaks at the beginning of San Francisco Pride weekend. Thank you, Patrick Carney. Last year I was honored to be the guest speaker at this event. I recalled how the pink triangle was invented by the Nazis in Germany as a symbol of discrimination and persecution for homosexuals in the concentration camps. But I also described how this symbol of hatred turned into an icon of pride. Just as the meaning of the symbol has changed, so has my country. Germany has changed from being the country where homosexuals were killed in the Nazi camps into one of the most gay-friendly places in the world. Today, Germany and California, Berlin and San Francisco have so much in common when it comes to LGBT issues and gay marriage that I have invited the German Federal Minister of Justice, Ms. Brigitte Zypries, to come here to this city to discuss them with representatives of the LGBT community and other interested parties. I cordially invite you to attend an event with the Minister at the LGBT Center in the evening of Monday, August 25.

I am sure that the Minister will also refer to an important event that took place in Berlin exactly a month ago. It was then when a memorial for gays persecuted by the Nazis was dedicated in the heart of the German capital. It is located at a very prominent place in the Tiergarten Park, across the street from the Jewish Holocaust Memorial and very close to Brandenburg Gate and the Federal Parliament building. The memorial was financed from the federal state budget. One of the main speakers at the dedication was Berlin’s openly gay mayor Klaus Wowereit. The Memorial in Berlin just like the Pink Triangle here on Twin Peaks should tell the world that the past must not be forgotten. But they should also tell the world that change is possible. As such they should also come as an encouragement to people like Arsham Parsi, our main speaker today. Change was possible in Germany. Change will be possible in Iran!!! Thank you for your attention.