CREATING A MONUMENT TO MEMORIALIZE THE LEGACY OF THE CHRISTOPHER ST. PIER FOR THE LGBTQ+ COMMUNITY
Our mission is to advocate for a permanent monument at the Christopher Street Pier honoring its legacy as a vital sanctuary of “freedom and sunlight” for our LGBTQ+ community. We seek to memorialize this waterfront as a crucial refuge for the gay community. It also served as a site of artistic expression and sexual liberation. A monument ensuring that our history is preserved for future generations within the modern landscape.
WHY THE PIERS MATTERED
A Sanctuary of “Freedom and Sunlight”
The piers became our home, providing a safe space away from public judgement.
A refuge for the marginalized
As the waterfront decayed into an "urban wilderness," it became a home and safe haven for homeless queer youth and transgender individuals who had nowhere else to go. This initiative honors the activism of figures like Sylvia Rivera, who lived on the piers, and Marsha P. Johnson, whose body was tragically found in the river off the pier in 1992.
An Incubator for Art & Culture
The initiative commemorates the piers as a site of immense creativity, where artists such as David Wojnarowicz, Peter Hujar, and Alvin Baltrop documented the intersection of "grit and glamour," transforming the ruined terminals into impromptu galleries and performance spaces, as well as a home to the emerging ballroom movement.
Resistance against erasure
As the waterfront underwent gentrification and redevelopment into Hudson River Park, the specific queer history of the space was threatened with erasure. A monument would serve as a physical reminder of our community that claimed this space for survival and celebration.