LGBT Memorial

In the early morning hours of June 12, 2016, twenty-nine-year-old Omar Mateen killed forty-nine people and wounded over fifty more at Pulse, a popular gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida. During the shooting, which lasted just over three hours, Mateen, a U.S. citizen of Afghan descent, made several 911 calls, in which he identified as an Islamic soldier and pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL; also commonly referred to as ISIS). In the days and weeks that followed, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) found no direct ties between ISIL and Mateen, concluding that he acted as a “lone wolf.” His exact motivations for carrying out the massacre remain unclear. Until the shooting in Las Vegas the following year that claimed the lives of fifty-eight people, the Pulse nightclub shooting was the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. It remains, however, the deadliest single act of violence perpetrated against the LGBT community in the nation’s history. 

In the wake of the Pulse nightclub shooting, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed an executive order establishing the LGBT Memorial Commission. Its goal was to oversee the construction of a memorial to honor the victims of the Orlando nightclub shooting and all victims of hate, intolerance, and violence. A few months later, in October 2016, the commission put out a call for design proposals. After months of deliberation during which its members judged submissions based on several criterion such as originality and constructability, the LGBT Memorial Commission selected the proposal submitted by Brooklyn artist and first-generation Cuban-American, Anthony Goicolea. 

On Sunday, June 24, 2018, the memorial was unveiled in Hudson River Park during a public ceremony. Nestled in the Greenwich Village section of the Manhattan park between West Twelfth and Bethune Streets, just north of the AIDS Memorial, it consists of nine modified boulders arranged in a rough circular pattern. Most of them are bisected by a section of laminated glass containing refractory components, which, when hit by direct sunlight, scatter the colors of a rainbow on the surrounding lawn, brick-paved walkway, and flora. Most of them are bisected by a laminated glass containing refractory components that, when hit by direct sunlight, scatter rainbows (the rainbow flag is a symbol of the LGBT community) on the surrounding lawn, brick-paved walkway, and flora. One boulder is split in half with a quote from an essay entitled “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House,” written by feminist and civil rights activist Audre Lorde, etched on the face of the cut. It reads: “Difference is that raw and powerful connection from which our personal power is forged…Without community there is no liberation…But community must not mean a shedding of our differences.” The design of the memorial fits seamlessly with the overall aesthetic of the park and encourages quiet reflection. In attendance at the dedication ceremony, in addition to the artist and members of the LGBT Memorial Commission, were Governor Cuomo, Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul, State Senator Brad Hoylman, and New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson. Governor Cuomo, Councilman Johnson, and artist Anthony Goicolea delivered brief remarks during the ceremony. 

"LGBT Memorial." Hudson River Park. Hudson River Park Friends & Hudson River Park Trust. Web. 9 December 2020 <https://hudsonriverpark.org/activities/lgbt-memorial/>.

"LGBT Monument Debuts in Greenwich Village." 18 July 2018. Web. 9 December 2020 <https://hudsonriverpark.org/lgbt-monument-debuts-in-greenwich-village/>.

Smith, Byron and Reuven Blau. "LGBT memorial honoring Orlando's Pulse shooting victims unveiled in Hudson River Park." New York Daily News, June 24, 2018 <https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-metro-lgbt-memorial-hudson-river-20180624-story.html>.