When did pink become a color associated with homosexuals?

I know now that the “flag” of the gay movement in general is a rainbow, but the color pink was used for, I think for many years (as an aside, in the German concentration camps, which had a huge variety of classification IDs for its son-to-die prisoners, the badge for homosexuals was pink).

Also, when/if did pink gradually become superceded by the rainbow symbol?

I don’t know, but I’ve heard that in the 19th century, pink was considered a masculine color, being associated with the bold color red. Blue was considered soft and feminine.

The Nazis made homosexuals wear pink triangles. Those pink triangles have now been adopted as symbols of pride.

Is it possible that the Nazis chose pink deliberately because of there already being an association of that colour with homosexuality?

It might not have meant anything before the Nazis chose it. They had a very specific set of other triangles and it is possible that they just ran out of easily distinguishable colors.

The Russian language has separate basic color terms for dark blue and light blue. The latter is the “gay color” in Russia.

Right. I’ve wondered the same thing, and it is very hard to find an answer. All I can usually come up with is that pink/red were at one point decidedly more masculine than blue, and then there was a shift, associating pink with femininity. Clearly, there was a shift, but was the Nazi thing the result of the it, or part of the onset?

The rainbow flag was created by San Francisco artist Gilbert Baker in 1978.

The Master speaks on baby colors: Was pink originally the color for boys and blue for girls? - The Straight Dope

By this article WWII was when the colors congealed, but the Nazi mark may have been as much part of the growing consensus as a consensus mover.

Huh. I tend to associate pink with straight females, and purple with homosexuals.

In Japan, pink is associated with porn. Straight porn, that is.

It’s lavender actually. You’ll sometimes see levendar roses at SS weddings. The “lavender revolution” was a gay liberation movement circa 1969. But mauve represented homosexuality back in the 1890s. I’ll have to look it up, because I don’t remember the origins.

Edit: This is from Wikipedia, but I’m quite sure I have a more authoritative cite in my library, I’m just not sure if I have the time to dig it up at the moment.

Remember that lesbians were not given pink triangles. Lesbian behaviour wasn’t a big concern for the Nazis and unless it was obvious was generally ignored. Lesbians were taken into camps when they became “obvious” and given black triangles. Several lesbian organizations have adopted the black triangle. The black triange was given for anti-social behaviour.

They may be evil mass-murderers but they did have fantastic formal-wear.

I never associated the color pink with homosexuals. I never associated any color with them except for the rainbow flag, which is obviously not one color but a collection of several. And naturally, the Bear Flag, a marvelously macho take on the rainbow.

the terms “blue collar job” and “pink collar job” have a long history. I believe “pink collar” term was already being used during the Depression. And the level of manliness and special training required is an obvious distinction between the two.

From what I can glean online, the Russian term based on the color “light blue” is thought to be either coined recently or at least widely spread recently (in the 1970s). Nobody seems certain about etymology, but one of the suggestions is based on the similarly sounding word for “dove” that was allegedly used internally by the gay subculture at some point.

I can’t remember the exact date, but I remember it was a Tuesday.

All I know is that as recently as 1984, pink had the ability to destroy musical careers.

In the German army of WW2, panzer troopers wore pink trim on their uniforms. So I don’t think the Germans considered it effeminate. I think the pink triangles in the concentration camps was just a coincidence.

After WW2, gay rights advocates adopted the pink triangle symbol as a deliberate statement.

According to the Merriam Webster site, the earliest known use of the term pink collar was in 1975.

That’s a rather unfortunate abbreviation, given the talk of Nazis in this thread. :dubious: