Gay Liberatn Sculpture Historil Marker

Contents:

• GAY LIBERATN MONUMENT
• THE MAKG OF GEE SEGAL’S GAY LIBERATN
• TEN QUEER REIMAGGS OF NEW YORK'S 'GAY LIBERATN MONUMENT'
• #GEE SEGAL #GAY LIBERATN STATUE #LGBTQ+ RIGHTS #ACTIVISM, #1970S HISTORY #GAY RIGHTS #LBIAN HISTORY #EQUALY #NYC PUBLIC ART #GAY ART #PRI #STONEWALLNATNALMONUMENT #HISTORILSE #LGBTQHISTORY
• VANDALISM OF GAY LIBERATN MONUMENT AT STANFORD UNIVERSY
• ON THE ENDURG LEGACY OF “GAY LIBERATN,” A SCULPTURE BY GEE SEGAL (BA ’49)
• DO NYC’S ‘GAY LIBERATN’ MONUMENT WHEWASH STONEWALL? THE NEW MM PROPOS REPLACEMENTS.
• GAY LIBERATN SCULPTURE
• GAY LIBERATN
• TEN QUEER REIMAGGS OF NEW YORK'S 'GAY LIBERATN MONUMENT'
• GAY LIBERATN

GAY LIBERATN MONUMENT

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.

THE MAKG OF GEE SEGAL’S GAY LIBERATN

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... Segal’s nceptn for Gay Liberatn is typil of his work.

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

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.

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.

#GEE SEGAL #GAY LIBERATN STATUE #LGBTQ+ RIGHTS #ACTIVISM, #1970S HISTORY #GAY RIGHTS #LBIAN HISTORY #EQUALY #NYC PUBLIC ART #GAY ART #PRI #STONEWALLNATNALMONUMENT #HISTORILSE #LGBTQHISTORY

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.

VANDALISM OF GAY LIBERATN MONUMENT AT STANFORD UNIVERSY

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).

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

Why hadn’t a gay or lbian artist been enlisted? 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.

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

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.

Still, ntu to spire gay and lbian visors to be proud of who they are. Forty years after the Stonewall Rts of June 1969, Gay Liberatn memorat more than the rts themselv.

GAY LIBERATN SCULPTURE

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.

In 1979, on the tenth anniversary of the Stonewall Rts, New York Cy missned artist Gee Segal to create a monument to gay liberatn. "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.

Due to ntroversy om Village rints and a small group of LGBTQ+ activists, Segal’s Gay Liberatn (1980) sculpture was not stalled until 1992. Executed bronze, wh the artist’s signature whe pata, the missn stipulated only that the figur “had to be lovg and rg, and show the affectn that is the hallmark of gay people…and had to have equal reprentatn of men and women. The Gay Liberatn sculpture signified everythg that mattered to me—art, our love, and our stggle and sire for visibily to advance the world’s unrstandg and acceptance of homosexualy.

GAY LIBERATN

Lol queer and trans anizers wrote a petn that gaed nearly 400 supporter’s signatur, to oppose the vatn, statg “honorg [the Gay Officers Actn League] is anthetil to the spir and history of Pri.

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

As the untry celebrat LGBT equaly and the activists who began the gay liberatn movement, ’s an appropriate moment to she a light on Philalphia’s history of anti-gay policg. Philalphia’s first Gay Pri Para June 1972.

Durg this time the gay rights movement was emergg lolly and natnally  ristance to police vlence LGBT muni.

Rizzo’s precct was known for targetg bs that he spected of havg gay patrons, arrtg and fg them whout reasonable e. When several dozen lol activists met 1960 to discs formg a gay rights anizatn, they tentnally met outsi of the cy Radnor, PA bee they believed themselv saft away om the long arm of Rizzo’s precct. Rizzo beme the police missner of Philalphia 1968, overseeg and ndong raids on gay tablishments and the arrtg of gay and trans dividuals across the cy.

GAY LIBERATN

Rizzo’s vlence didn’t only target gay muni. The publitns were diligent reportg on numero police transgrsns: Black men murred by the police, raids on gay bars, harassment of low-e youth, and stutnalized reprsn of polil dissent. Philalphia’s gay liberatn movement emerged durg Rizzo’s tenure as police missner as a direct reactn to the police btaly that had been targetg gay bs and muni for s.