Saturday, July 30, 2005

Nazi Germany on the rise again? At least for gays it is.

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According to an article originally appearing on 365gay.com on July 26, 2005, but now on About.com (see article), police in three German states are keeping secret computer files on gays. The databases can be searched by entering "omosex," the German word for homosexual and the files include the names of all gay persons in someway connected to the legal system - whether that be in the form of suspects, witnesses or victims. Many in Germany, including politicians, have condemned the practice, saying that it harkens back to the days when the Nazi regime kept "pink lists" of homosexuals. The Nazi's rounded up anywhere from 5,000 to 15,000 homosexuals under a German law known as Paragraph 175 (finally abolished in 1994). The law prohibited sex between two men. Homosexuals were required to wear the pink triangle (a modern gay pride symbol) by the Nazis and they were forced into concentration camps where they were subjected to scientific experiments and operations including lobotomies. Homosexual men were also forced to work and many were sent to the gas chamber. The German homosexual police organization suspects that the practice of keeping files on gays is more widespread than now thought.