Gay Liberatn Sculpture Historil Marker

Contents:

• THE MAKG OF GEE SEGAL’S GAY LIBERATN
• ON THE ENDURG LEGACY OF “GAY LIBERATN,” A SCULPTURE BY GEE SEGAL (BA ’49)
• GAY LIBERATN MONUMENT
• TEN QUEER REIMAGGS OF NEW YORK'S 'GAY LIBERATN MONUMENT'
• GAY LIBERATN SCULPTURE

THE MAKG OF GEE SEGAL’S GAY LIBERATN

Tled Gay Liberatn, the piece had taken twelve years to fd s tend home wh the triangle of Christopher Park Greenwich Village, jt across Christopher Street om what had been the Stonewall Inn. Cast whe bronze, the standg gay male uple and their lbian unterparts, who were seated on two park bench clud the posn, managed to ffle feathers of every stripe. Prottg gays thought wrong bee only whe mols their early thirti had been employed, and the whe (albe Jewish) artist was straight (though the mols were all openly gay).

Many non-gay crics didn’t want a public space to be occupied by a sculpture that allud to homosexualy, much ls a pictn of same-sex upl, while fully clothed, actually touchg one another. For those tractors, was bad enough that actual homosexuals roamed the Wt Village streets. Dpe all the brouhaha, Gay Liberatn was eventually stalled as a permanent monument Christopher Park, wh a send stg set on the grounds of Stanford Universy Palo Alto, California.

ON THE ENDURG LEGACY OF “GAY LIBERATN,” A SCULPTURE BY GEE SEGAL (BA ’49)

The sculpture has been nounced by some art historians and culture mavens as borg and “angly somber, ” and maligned by gay activists as too nservative a pictn of homosexual affectn.

Forty years after the Stonewall Rts of June 1969, Gay Liberatn memorat more than the rts themselv.

GAY LIBERATN MONUMENT

For many olr gay men and lbians, reprents their emergence om an earlier era when would have been impossible for two men or two women to engage the behavr the statu pict, however unrstated, even Greenwich Village. For today’s gay and lbian young people, who may not be fully aware of the long history of our stggle for equaly and acceptance, ’s a public emblem of acknowledgement that we exist and belong. Of the fished sculpture, Segal said, “ ncentrat on tenrns, gentlens, and sensivy as exprsed gture…and mak the lite pot that gay people are as feelg as anyone else.

Intend for stallatn Sheridan Square, Gay Liberatn proved too ntroversial for the neighborhood and spent five years on display Orton Park Madison, Wisns. A send stg of the sculpture, stalled on Stanford Universy’s Ma Quad, was damaged 1984 when, acrdg to the New York Tim, a “hammer-wieldg vandal” nted each of the “four homosexuals… the head, face, and body wh a barrage of about 40 blows. On June 23, 1992, New York Cy Mayor David Dks and Parks Commissner Betsy Gotbm unveiled the Gay Liberatn monument Christoper Park, endg a 12-year battle of polil opposn.

TEN QUEER REIMAGGS OF NEW YORK'S 'GAY LIBERATN MONUMENT'

Though the mols for Gay Liberatn were gay upl known by the artist, many have cricized the stallatn for narrowly reprentg the diversy of the LGBTQ muny and prentg a nventnal, bourgeois image of homosexualy to the public. View all monuments NYC Parks, as well as temporary public art stallatns on our NYC Public Art Map and LiberatnHistoryThis sculpture by Gee Segal (1924–2000) honors the gay rights movement and memorat the events at the Stonewall Inn oppose this park that gave rise to the movement.

In 1966, closed for renovatns, and reopened the followg year as a private club known as Stonewall Inn - a bar and dance hall which, like numero lol tablishments, tered to the homosexual muny of Greenwich Village.

Word of the raid and the ristance to soon spread, and the next day hundreds gathered to prott the crackdown and advote the legalizatn of gay bars. Further protts epted early July, and on July 27, a group of activists anized the first gay and lbian march, om Washgton Square to Stonewall.

GAY LIBERATN SCULPTURE

The events of that summer and their aftermath are often creded as the flashpot for the gay rights movement the Uned Stat. A later, Peter Putnam (1927–1987), a wealthy arts patron om Louisiana and tstee of the Mildred Andrews Fund, missned the Gay Liberatn monument.

Though Segal was not the first artist approached, he accepted the missn, which stipulated only that the work “had to be lovg and rg, and show the affectn that is the hallmark of gay people... The rult is specific, evotive, and unrstated, showg the public fort and eedom to which the gay liberatn movement aspired.

The ial opposn and ranr which had greeted the project had subsid; the advent of AIDS, which had vastated the gay muny particular, add another poignant dimensn to the monument and s mute figur’ impact.