Catalogue Number
NMLH.2022.371.18
Object Name
Badge
Title
Gays Against Nazis
Place
UK
People
Anti-Nazi League
Description
Pink badge reads "Gays Against Nazis"
The badge has a pink background - a common colour in LGBTQIA campaigning due to the connection with the pink triangle (see below). The badge includes the arrow design used by the Anti-Nazi League (ANL), an anti-racist and anti-fascist campaign group that ran between 1977 and 1981 to oppose the rise of far-right groups such as the National Front. It was re-established in the 1990s to oppose the new far-right group the British National Party. In 2004, ANL affiliated with the National Assembly Against Racism to create Unite Against Fascism. The pointed arrow became a symbol for anti-fascist and anti-racist action in the UK through the 1970s and 1980s.
The pink triangle symbol was reclaimed by the gay community after originally being a symbol of persecution. The symbol originated as a pink triangle cloth patch, used to identify gay men in prisons and concentration camps in Nazi Germany. Its use spread through the gay liberation movement in the 1970s and 1980s and is now positively associated with the LGBTQIA community.
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