Featured Photo by Anna Kaserman
Story by Anna Kaserman
Jake Newsome seems like an average history buff until you learn the French, United Kingdom and United States governments invited him to talk about LGBT+ History. Newsome discussed how to deal with the issues of being ethically responsible citizens around the subject of LGBT communities.
He came to Middle Tennessee State University to kick off the 2023 LGBT+ Conference from April 13 to April 15. This year’s theme is “All Idienites Pulling Together.” He also wanted to talk about his book “Pink Triangle Legacies: Coming Out in the Shadow of the Holocaust.”
“When I got to the archives, I thought there would be nothing, but imagine my surprise when there were mountains of evidence….” Newsome said. He mentioned all of the types of people who had taken away official documents and stories of queer individuals. People like war officials, Holocaust survivors and even the German government had hidden these documents from the public.
Newsome goes into research for the book to learn about the LGBT+ Communities during the holocaust over a timeframe to a much more relevant concern.
“My question turned from documenting history to asking what happens when a society ignores the suffering of an entire population,” Newsome said.
Newsome has a Ph.D. in History and works in Washington, D.C. as a Museum Professional. He studies German and American journalistic articles on the LGBT culture in the holocaust.
“When I was in college, like you, was the first time I had really learned about the Holocaust,” Newsome said. “I had never stopped to think about what happened to people like me during history.”
He dived into one of the primary laws affecting the LGBT+ community in Germany in the 1930s, Paragraph 175: A law that forbids the act of being “indecent” with other men.
His statistics show one thousand men arrested under this law and a likely ten thousand repeat offenders; Men arrested for their identity more than once were sent to consternation camps. Many never made it out and were forced to work harder to “turn them back” into what was classified as manly.
Newsome took the audience through history from the 1930s Nazi camps to the creation of the modern pride flag. The pride flag was created as a symbol of pride and equality, where the pink triangle has been associated with shame in history.
“The rainbow flag was created in direct opposition to the pink triangle’s radical views,” Newsome said.
Newsome encourages others to notice the similarities between Nazi Germany and present-day governments. He shares his findings on his website.
Newsome talked about not just his book, but his message to the world.
“This [pink triangle] can no longer be a history that is only a part of the LGBT plus history. It has to be shared.” Newsome said.
Newsome is available on almost all social media platforms. He is dedicated to making LGBT+ information as accessible as possible.
To contact Lifestyles Editor Destiny Mizell, email lifestyles@mtsusidelines.com. For more news, visit www.mtsusidelines.com, or follow us on Facebook at MTSU Sidelines or on Twitter at @Sidelines_News.
