With Pride Month officially kicking off on Sunday, the 30th Anniversary Pink Triangle art installation on Twin Peaks is set to return next week.
While the Pink Triangle was illuminated from 2020-2022, in 2023 the art installation returned to a canvas-only display, mostly visible only during daylight hours.
For the 30th annual Pink Triangle, Carney has put out a call for hundreds of volunteers. Volunteers are needed on May 31, June 5, 6, 7, 9, 27, 29, 30, and July 11.
"The Pink Triangle is a 'community-building event' and education project which brings together LGBTQs with families from across the Bay Area who volunteer to help install the huge display and learn about us person-to-person," explained Carney.
Pink Triangle display on Twin Peaks (2024). | Photo: Steven Bracco/Hoodline
Carney tells Hoodline that this year's ceremony will focus on the transgender community and "extreme irrational discrimination" from the Trump administration.
Every Pride weekend since 1996, the Pink Triangle has adorned the eastern side of Twin Peaks, measuring 200 feet from top to bottom and visible from over 20 miles away.
"This project has always been a giant, in-your-face educational tool," explained Carney. "It is up on Twin Peaks as a reminder and a warning. Part of appreciating and celebrating any Pride is understanding where we have been — and the Pink Triangle illustrates how bad things can get."
As you may be aware, the symbol was used to label homosexual prisoners under Nazi Germany, like yellow stars were used to label Jews, before being reclaimed as a symbol of LGBTQ+ pride.
Patrick Carney and his husband Hossein (center) with volunteers. | Photo courtesy of Patrick Carney.
"Getting that message out is the goal of the project," said Carney. "The Pink Triangle will be back in its original form, with its original message and original mission."
The Pink Triangle consists of 175 bright pink tarps and two pieces of 240-foot-by-five-foot pink sailcloth. New canvas and sailcloth borders were purchased in 2023.
"Everything up there is held in place against the harsh winds atop Twin Peaks by approx 5,000 steel spikes, which are each 12" long," explained Carney. "That is why the volunteers are asked to bring a hammer."
The annual installation was founded by Carney and collaborators Thomas Tremblay and Michael Brown. The latter two signed on for only five years of the project. Since 1998, Carney's main assistants have been his husband, Hossein Carney, and sister, Colleen Hodgkins.
Patrick Carney and volunteers installing the Pink Triangle. | Photo courtesy of Patrick Carney
"Their help has been instrumental in keeping the project going for over another two decades," Carney told Hoodline previously. "Colleen drives up from LA every year for four days, usually brings a carload or two of volunteers with her, and has paid for plenty of aspects of the project too."
Carney explained the beginnings of the 30-year-old project in a 2015 Hoodline interview, for the 20th anniversary of the Pink Triangle, saying, "My friends and I were sitting in a restaurant on Market Street, wondering how we could spread the weekend's festivities to other parts of the city. We noticed a huge blank canvas right outside the window: Twin Peaks. Just a few weeks later, the Pink Triangle of Twin Peaks was born."
The Pink Triangle was lit up for Pride Month for the past three years (2020). | Photo: Steven Bracco/Hoodline
As you may recall, the Pink Triangle was both lit up and festooned with streamers in 2022, and was lit throughout Pride Month in 2021, and for three weeks in 2020. This was with the help of the nonprofit Illuminate the Arts. The installation was also lit up from 2001-2003 and 2009-2012 by spotlights.
"Illuminate graciously offered to help during the pandemic year of 2020 when we weren’t able to gather hundreds of volunteers due to social distancing, and then that system was used for an additional two years — a beautiful bonus for sure," added Carney. "For all that I am forever grateful."
Last year the Pink Triangle was lit up for one night only with a spotlight from Kite Hill. The lighting coincided with Illuminate's Rainbow Laser display "Welcome" from the Ferry Building.
"The Pink Triangle and the Rainbow Flag are the yin-yang of our gay rights symbols," said Carney. "One forged from hatred during the Holocaust and the other born out of love, optimism, inclusion, equality, and hope for a better future."
A commemoration ceremony will be held on Saturday, June 7 at 10:30 a.m. at the Twin Peaks lookout. Mayor Daniel Lurie and other dignitaries will be in attendance along with Pride Parade Grand Marshals and the official band of San Francisco, the SF Pride Band.
Mayor London Breed (left), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (center), Illuminate's Ben Davis (center-back), and Patrick Carney (right) at the 2021 lighting. | Photo: Gareth Gooch/Facebook
This year's Pink Triangle will be on display for just over three weeks. Traditionally, the Pink Triangle was installed on the Saturday of Pride Weekend, commonly referred to as Pink Saturday, and then taken down at the conclusion of Pride Weekend on Sunday evening.
Carney is also seeking donations from anyone who will consider supporting the project.
"The Pink Triangle is a reminder of the struggles we have faced," said Carney. "Those struggles continue as it seems some are determined to reverse the gains the LGBTQ+ community has made over the decades."
