Its being reported that “two queer and gender non-conforming activist women”one Latina and one White have vandalized the iconic gay rights sculpture by George Segal in Sheridan Square Park by painting them brown and black and donning them in wigs because they took the recent comments by Miss Majors a trans-activist who was at the Stonewall and her condemning of the soon to be released movie Stonewall as a “call to action” for trans POC.
Those sculptures are supposedly there to commemorate the Stonewall riots, but there isn’t a trace of the actual riots in them. They’re a slap across the face to the Black and Latina trans women who got whacked with batons and shoved into police vans, and still had the guts to continue to lead the fight for LGBTQ liberation. I mean, the people who modeled for the sculptures weren’t even at the riots! That’s just a straight-up insult. It’s also important to note that the Mildred Andrews Fund paid a (presumably) straight and cis white man $90,000 to depict gay people. It’s no wonder that the sculptures are so impassive and tone-deaf.
We painted them because Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera, Miss Major, Storme DeLarverie and all the other Black and Brown people who led the movement deserve credit for their courage and strength. What we did was rectification, not vandalism. Those statues are bronze (brown) underneath the layer of white paint — the symbolism behind that is infuriating. I know that some people are going to be angry, but I’m not concerned with preserving bullshit art. I’m angry about the whitewashing of LGBTQ history.
This sculpture by George Segal (1924–2000) honors the gay rights movement and commemorates the events at the Stonewall Inn opposite this park
Disgusting stunt and a slap in the face to EVERYONE in the LGBT community whop fought for these spoiled children freedom.. Attacking art is where I draw the line with these tantrum throwing crazed “activist” wannabes. For their information, Sylvia and Marsha loved those statues and that park and if they were here today they’s slap their faces and read them to shame for this silly and destructive stunt.
You do not honor someone by vandalizing. You honor someone by building. But then again I guess its much easier to attack a work of art than it is to raise money on Kickstarter to build a statue honoring Marsha, Sylvia and Stome.
Fucking idiots.
I for one personally hope you are caught and prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
UPDATE: 8/18/2015: The statues have been restored to their original state.