00:00A Nazi symbol ended up becoming a symbol of lesbian pride in Bogotá.
00:03That?
00:04Friends, today is Lesbian Rebellion Day.
00:06Good day!
00:08And to commemorate it, let's talk about the story of some super rebellious lesbians in Colombia.
00:14Let's talk about the Black Triangle.
00:15And believe me, it has nothing to do with esotericism or witchcraft.
00:19In 1996, a group of lesbian feminist women created a collective in Bogotá called Black Triangle.
00:26And they chose that name for a pretty strong reason.
00:30The Black Triangle was used by the Nazi regime to mark people considered antisocial in the camps
00:38concentration.
00:39That category included lesbian women, prostitutes, homeless people, beggars, and other people persecuted by the regime.
00:47Homosexual men, on the other hand, were identified with a Pink Triangle.
00:52And this group of women decided to turn things around.
00:55They literally turned it upside down.
00:57They took the symbol and turned it into a sign of pride and resistance.
01:02In the first leaflet, which they released in 1997, they explained that the modification of the Triangle was a way of rejecting the
01:09discrimination and reaffirm the pride of being lesbians.
01:13But don't get me wrong, because this reaffirmation wasn't just about referring to Nazi persecution, without using the
01:20a symbol to talk about the discrimination faced by lesbians in Colombia and other parts of the world.
01:26At that time, feminist movements and homosexual organizations already existed in the country.
01:32The problem was that lesbians were caught between one group and the other; they never felt fully represented.
01:38In spaces of sexual diversity, experiences and forms of organization built around gay men predominated.
01:45And in feminist spaces, the lesbian experience did not occupy a central place either.
01:50Just to give you an idea, at the first Pride March in 1983, which was attended by 32
01:56people, only two were lesbian women.
01:59Black Triangle began organizing meetings and working on issues of health, sexuality, and communication.
02:04In March 1997, they officially launched with an evening attended by about 100 women.
02:11There was music, dance, and poetry.
02:13A month later, they held their first open meeting.
02:15His activism was not limited to cultural matters.
02:18In 1998, Triángulo Negro participated in the legal battle to eliminate the law that considered sexual orientation as a
02:26reason for dismissing teachers in the teaching statute.
02:29The iconic sentence of the mask.
02:31Two of its founders, Marta Montenegro and Fabiola Espitia, participated in that struggle.
02:36And from there emerged a super powerful image.
02:38When Elena, one of the members of the group, had to present the lawsuit before Congress, she used a mask to
02:44protect your identity.
02:46A woman publicly defending lesbian rights while simultaneously having to hide her face for protection.
02:53It's hard to think of a clearer picture of what it meant to be an openly lesbian woman at that time.
02:59The group also reached other spaces.
03:01Between 1998 and 2002, she participated in Planeta Paz, a process that sought to include the agenda of different social sectors in
03:08peace talks with the FARC.
03:11There they argued that lesbian women, including victims of armed conflict, also had to be recognized within that
03:18conversation.
03:19In the end, the group disbanded in 2005, but their struggle remained part of the history of the lesbian movement.
03:25and LGBTIQ+, in Colombia.
03:27Later, other spaces emerged such as the Colombian Lesbian Group (GLC), Mujeres al Borde (Women on the Edge), and other collectives that continued
03:35working from lesbian activism, art, research and political organizing.
03:40And that's how a triangle that once served to mark women who were to be punished ended up becoming
03:47in Bogotá it is a symbol of pride.
03:49Did you know this story? Tell us in the comments.
