Christopher Park Monuments - Gay Liberatn : NYC Parks

Contents:

• GAY LIBERATN MONUMENT
• TEN QUEER REIMAGGS OF NEW YORK'S 'GAY LIBERATN MONUMENT'
• THE GAY LIBERATN MOVEMENT
• THE MAKG OF GEE SEGAL’S GAY LIBERATN
• VANDALISM OF GAY LIBERATN MONUMENT AT STANFORD UNIVERSY
• DO NYC’S ‘GAY LIBERATN’ MONUMENT WHEWASH STONEWALL? THE NEW MM PROPOS REPLACEMENTS.
• CATEGORY:GAY LIBERATN MONUMENT
• GAY LIBERATN

GAY LIBERATN MONUMENT

Though not owned by NYU, Gay Liberatn Monument is viewable near NYU's mp at 51-53 Christopher Street, and is a part of the Stonewall Natnal Monument. This sculpture by NYU Alum Gee Segal, (Stehardt BA '49) (1924–2000) honors the gay rights movement and memorat the events at the Stonewall Inn oppose this park that gave rise to the movement.

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

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. This sculpture by Gee Segal (1924–2000) honors the gay rights movement and memorat the uprisg which took place at the Stonewall Inn oppose this park Sheridan Square 1969.

In 1967 the tablishment was nverted to an unlicensed private club also lled the Stonewall Inn - a bar and dance hall which tered to the vibrant gay muny of Greenwich Village. Further protts epted early July, and on July 27 a group of activists anized the first gay and lbian march om Washgton Square to the Stonewall.

Segal, though not the first artist approached, 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... Segal's posn for Gay Liberatn nsists of two standg mal and two seated femal posned on the northern boundary of the park, naturalistic pos. Gay Liberatn Monument and Marker - Wi View, Lookg NorthThe marker is visible here the background on the tempered the st surfac wh an unearthly whe pated fish.

THE GAY LIBERATN MOVEMENT

In March 2000, for their role the gay rights movement, the Stonewall Inn and Christopher Park were signated a Natnal Historic Landmark, and Segal’s sculpture has bee a popular pilgrimage se. 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. A later, Peter Putnam (1927–1987), a wealthy arts patron om Louisiana and tstee of the Mildred Andrews Fund, missned the Gay Liberatn monument.

THE MAKG OF GEE SEGAL’S GAY LIBERATN

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 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.

VANDALISM OF GAY LIBERATN MONUMENT AT STANFORD UNIVERSY

Click map for directnsClick image for larger viewGay Liberatn DetailsLotn: Adjog Sheridan Square, Christopher, Grove and Wt 4th StreetsSculptor: Gee SegalArchect: Philip N. Wslow, ASLADcriptn: Group of four figur (two seated, two standg), two World's Fair-style bench, plaqueMaterials: Figur--bronze (whe lacquer); bench--steel (black pat)Dimensns: Group H: 5'11" W: 16' D: 7'6"; Each bench L: 16'; Plaque H: 7 5/8" W: 7 5/8"Cast: 1980Dedited: June 23, 1992Foundry: Johnson Atelier, Haton Township, NJDonor: Mildred Andrews FundInscriptn: GAY LIBERATION / BY / GEORGE SEGAL / BRONZE CAST -- 1980 / DEDICATED -- 1992 /---/ GIFT OF THE MILDRED ANDREWS FUND / TO THE CITY OF NEW YORK /Please note, the NAME field clus a primary signatn as well as alternate namgsoften mon or popular age. "When I thk about the Gay Liberatn Monument at Christopher Street Park I thk of silence… And I thk about the failure to memorialize the liv of the victims of stutnal abe on our own terms.

Johnson and Rivera opened the first LGBTQ+ (Lbian Gay Transgenr Bisexual Queer) youth shelter North Ameri, and the trailblazers beme the first Trans women of lor to lead an anizatn the Uned Stat. By the time the prottors marched agast anti-gay csar Ana Bryant Kansas Cy 1977, the gay rights movement had bee creasgly youthful and ant. Though the 1969 NACHO meetg Kansas Cy was the largt gatherg of gay and lbian activists to date, the nference took place jt weeks after Stonewall.

DO NYC’S ‘GAY LIBERATN’ MONUMENT WHEWASH STONEWALL? THE NEW MM PROPOS REPLACEMENTS.

Their publitns created the sense of natnal muny that beme realized after Stonewall, and many homophile activists ntributed to the formatn of gay liberatn anizatns. 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.

CATEGORY:GAY LIBERATN MONUMENT

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. 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.

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. Vandalism on Stanford Universy’s mp agast “Gay Liberatn” sculptur transformed the monument honorg the gay rights movement to a physil remr of the LGBTQ muny’s ntued fight agast hate and vlence the 1980s and 90s.

Followg the cint, Gee Segal told the New York Tim he was distrsed, sayg the art wasn’t meant as a polil statement, but rather “a human one regardg our mon humany wh homosexuals. Some stunts felt the vandalized work symbolized vulnerabili still felt by the LGBTQ muny on a natnal sle, pecially given the school’s proximy to San Francis and s active gay and lbian muny. Stanford stunts Steve Greene, Andrew Gans and Ann Chang, as well as Merry Meyers, a supporter visg om San Diego posed as the statue’s four figur for a half hour as part of the Gay and Lbian Awarens Week celebratg the muny.

GAY LIBERATN

Summarize this article for a 10 years oldSHOW ALL QUESTIONSThe Gay Liberatn Monument is part of the Stonewall Natnal Monument, which memorat the Stonewall uprisg of 1969. Created 1980, the Gay Liberatn sculpture by Amerin artist Gee Segal was the first piece of public art dited to gay rights and solidary for LGBT dividuals, while simultaneoly memoratg the ongog stggl of the muny.

The missn specified that the work mt be stalled on public land and that "had to be lovg and rg, and show the affectn that is the hallmark of gay people....

On Sunday afternoon I asked whoever happened to be Christopher Park, across om the Stonewall Inn, hallowed se of that famo 1969 rt that is nsired to have sparked the morn LGBTQ-rights movement, what they thought of “Gay Liberatn. A whe middle-aged gay uple visg om Dallas said they found “betiful” and “emotnal, ” gog on to tell me they were also “moved” by Kky Boots on Broadway the night before. “Gay Liberatn” was missned on the tenth anniversary of the rts, which were sparked by a police raid on the club (police harassment of gay clubs was then standard law-enforcement practice).