Ten Queer Reimaggs of New York's 'Gay Liberatn Monument'

Gee Segal’s statue Gay Liberatn stands out and proud Christopher Park, but not whout s own story of stggle. Commissned 1979, Segal was asked to create the piece to memorate the Stonewall Rts. * gay liberation statue *

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. 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. 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). 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.

#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 liberation statue *

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.

VANDALISM OF GAY LIBERATN MONUMENT AT STANFORD UNIVERSY

'Gay Liberatn,' a 1981 work by acclaimed sculptor Gee Segal, evc Stanford’s longtime tert LGBT equaly. * gay liberation statue *

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.

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.

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

Disver Gay Liberatn New York, New York: The first piece of public art dited to LGBT rights. * gay liberation statue *

"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.

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

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.

GAY LIBERATN SCULPTURE

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. 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.

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.

GAY LIBERATN

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. 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.