The Men with the Pink Triangle (reprise)

Okay, so I'm back, but perhaps only briefly...

I've got a question.

The only post that ever really got any attention was this one about the torture of a young gay man, described so graphically in Heinz Heger's book, and after being absent for almost six years, I have to end my silence and ask "Why?"

Why that post, and none of the others? I did a search for the key words "the men with the pink triangle tickle", and I was more than a little surprised (flabbergasted, in fact) to discover that my post was the first hit listed, but I digress.

I've always wanted to ask the visitors to that post why.

Were you, like me, absolutely horrified by account? Horrified by the brutality? Horrified by the complete and utter lack of humanity that these men demonstrated?

Back then, I was right; you can't forget that, the horror of that, ever. You shouldn't, because as much as we'd like to think that, as a species, we've evolved beyond that -- beyond the capacity to perpetrate such a heinous crime, or even stand by and watch it happen -- but the ugly truth is that names like Matthew Shepard and Brandon Teena prove that we really haven't.

Their murderers may have been brought to justice, but names like Phillip Parker and Asher Brown remind us that prejudice and bigotry are still very much alive and just as dangerous and deadly as ever, and any time I drive past Hamilton Middle School, I'm reminded that they live here, practically in my own back yard.

Still, why are you here? Tell me: why is this important to you?