Two Important Sites for Gay Travelers: U.S. Holocaust Museum and Homomonument

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I'm going to take you to two continents on this verbal tour. We'll take an a look at one destination at each of two great cities: Amsterdam and Washington, D.C., which both offer a unique attraction for gay travelers.

Amsterdam is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe, partly attributable to the rings of canals that meander in concentric circles around the heart of the city. The canals serve as tranquil pauses as residents and tourists traverse this bustling but easily navigated commercial capital of the Netherlands.

Within the city--and an important part of the city--is the unique Homomonument. The street level, horizontal monument is made up of three large pink granite triangles, harkening to the pink cloth triangles worn by gays in the Nazi concentration camps of the 1930s and 1940's. Those triangles worn on the shirts of the imprisoned were meant to be a mark of shame. However Amsterdam's pink stones represent the persecution of gays in the past, the struggle of the present and a cautious hope for the future. The monument is visited each year by tourists and residents of every sexual orientation in tribute, in memory and in celebration.

Several thousand miles to the west is the U.S. capital of Washington in the District of Columbia. What most tourists experience in a visit to this great city is the area surrounding the vast, open Mall. The Mall is surrounded by the White House, the Capitol building which houses the legislative branch of government, various war memorials and the imposing Lincoln Memorial posed opposite the Capitol. A great deal of the connecting spaces are lined by the major museums of the Smithsonian Institution. 

Just off the Mall is the U.S. National Holocaust Museum. A moving memorial to all who suffered at the hands of the Nazis prior to and during World War II, much of the museum and memorial is dedicated to the imprisoned and executed Jews, who were the most numerous of the victims by far.

Among the many groups honored in this magnificent building are those who served almost as despised after-thoughts for the machines of bigotry and murder, including Gypsies, gays and other groups. At this location a gay man will feel the shivers looking at the actual pink triangle sewn onto the shirts of our predecessors. Coupled with the images of the granite triangles of Amsterdam, a somber but hopeful circle of emotion is joined, and we are reminded of the slogan of the post-holocaust slogans of both "Never forget!" and "Never again."