Soon the Gay Liberation Statues will talk in New York. These statues of George Segal honor the gay rights movement and commemorate events at the Stonewall Inn above this park that gave rise to the movement. The launch is hosted by The American LGBTQ+ Museum and also supported by the National Park Service, Pride Live, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, the National Parks Conservation Association, the Danish Consulate General in New York, and LGBT Historic Sites Project.
The installation runs through 2024, and will be produced in two parts:
• Part one will introduce the George Segal “Gay Liberation” statues and their unique place in history. The George Segal statues will talk as though the two couples have been brought to life.
• Part two will tell the story behind the Stonewall uprising and the Stonewall National Monument through the eyes of Christopher Park (which is located across the street from the Stonewall Inn). Christopher Park itself will be brought to life and will share its history, its relationship to the LGBTQ community in Greenwich Village, and what it observed in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969 when LGBTQ people fought back against the police following a routine raid of the Stonewall Inn gay bar. Included in the Christopher Park audio narrative will be excerpts of archival recorded interviews with a handful of people who participated in the Stonewall uprising, including Marsha P. Johnson, Martin Boyce, and Morty Manford.
