Bob van Schijndel is a retired politician and was initiator of the Homomonument in the late 1970s.

On 4 May 1970, some young gays wanted to lay a wreath at the National Monument on Dam Square. They were removed by the police quite violently. People were already saying at that time, ‘Then we’ll just have to build our own monument’.

By the end of the seventies more and more was becoming known about the suppression of the history of the persecution of gays in the Second World War. The idea of building a monument of our own came back to me in May 1979, though it took until 1987 to achieve it.

It was decided that the design of the monument should be based on pink triangles, because gays in the concentration camps gays were forced to wear a pink triangle. In the 1970s, it was the norm to wear a small pink triangle to show others that you were gay. It had changed from being a mark of oppression to being a symbol of gay and lesbian emancipation. Nowadays, the colours of the rainbow have taken over that role.

For me, the Homomonument is a meeting place, a bastion of vigilance against any form of gay discrimination and persecution. Whenever something serious happens in the world, for instance the terrorist attack on the gay club in Orlando, a spontaneous gathering is held.

Karin Daan (designer of the monument) and I attended the opening of a mini monument in Madurodam.