Who We Are
The Christopher St. Pier Project was formed with the goal of lobbying state and local decision makers for the creation of a permanent monument at the site of the Christopher St. Piers to honor its history within the LGBTQ community.
LESLIE SCOTT SEALE
Leslie Seale grew up in Jersey City. At 15 Leslie + friends discovered the Freedom of the Pier. A place where (long before social media) we could find ourselves by seeing each other in a safe place, just for us, for the first time.
Leslie is a human rights activist and has served on various non profit boards supporting Queer Rights. The Hudson Pride Center, Out Montclair, the UU-UNO - where Leslie met with and reported on LGBTQ harassment in Ghana. Leslie promoted a successful demonstration at the UN condemning the Ugandan government’s covering up the murderer of a Gay Rights leader.
Leslie focuses on Trans Advocacy and Queer Philanthropy. Leslie co-founded a real estate investment company in 1997 and lives with their husband Frank Ippolito.
DOMINIQUE JACKSON
Dominique Jackson is a model, actress, and author who is best known for her performance as the lead role Elektra in the FX series Pose, and recently starred in American Horror Stories.
She is one of the Executive Producers of the documentary film I’m Your Venus which follows the story of slain transgender woman Venus Pellagatti Xtravaganza from the renowned documentary Paris Is Burning. Dominique can also be seen as a guest host on Legendary for HBO Max where her appearance went viral.
Jackson released her autobiography The Transsexual from Tobago in 2013. She has worked for several nonprofit organizations, such as Destination Tomorrow in the Bronx, that provide outreach and services to the LGBTQ+ community. She served as Grand Marshal of the NYC Pride March in 2019.
Randy Wicker
Randy Wicker has fought for civil rights and equality for all since 1958. He was one of the youngest members of the Mattachine Society of New York, advocating to educate the public about homosexuality long before Stonewall. He was one of the first open homosexuals to speak on radio and television, and the first organizer of a gay picket in the United States. He ran a counterculture button shop, and later an antique lamp shop in the Village—which employed and supported countless artists, street people, and queer folks from 1974 to 2003. From that lamp shop, Wicker campaigned for an investigation into the death of his late roommate Marsha P. Johnson, who is a transgender activist icon, Stonewall veteran, and the house mother of Wicker's extended gay family. Wicker has continued to march for Marsha, Sylvia, and for all transgender people whose names have gone unrecognized, and for queer liberation worldwide!
Cathy Marino-Thomas
Cathy was Executive Director of Marriage Equality New York for 3 years (2005 - 2008) and was Board President until Marriage Equality New York became a state chapter of Marriage Equality USA in 2012. At that time she joined Dave Janis-Kitzmiller as Board Co-President of Marriage Equality USA until 1 July 2013. Cathy speaks all over New York State about the 1,338 federal rights, privileges and obligations that protect families only through the right to civil marriage.
Currently, Cathy splits her volunteer time between Marriage Equality USA and her daughter's elementary school. An out lesbian since 1978, Cathy lives with her wife, Sheila and daughter Jacqueline.
CHARLES LESLIE
Charles Leslie is an American art collector, gay rights activist and founder of the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art.
Born in Deadwood, South Dakota, Leslie was stationed in Heidelberg, Germany, during the Korean War. In Heidelberg, he first met with the works of sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld. After he was released from duty, Leslie toured Europe with the Lotte Goslar Pantomime Circus. When he returned to the United States, he joined the touring production of Tennessee Williams's Suddenly Last Summer play.
In 1969 (the summer of Stonewall), Charles and his life partner J. Frederic “Fritz” Lohman, created what would become the world's first gay art museum. In May of that year they staged their first art exhibit in their SoHo loft dedicated to advancing LGBTQ+ artists. Their gallery subsequently morphed into the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, which has 22,000 objects, including paintings, drawings, photography, prints, and sculpture.