Focus on Gay Liberation Monument and analyze the An ongoing movement.
Chris E. Vargas, the executive director of the Museum of Transgender Hirstory and Art (MOTHA), suggests it is important to narrate the Stonewall Riots as part of an active, ongoing process of LGBTQ liberation. Vargas believes Segal's Gay Liberation may not adequately represent the anti-establishment spirit of the Stonewall Riots, and questions the premise of memorializing the Stonewall Riots in a singular, static monument as this may falsely suggest that the movement is "safely placed in the past, and all the concerns of the people involved in the riots are resolved in a clean and tidy way." He suggests oral history can offer an alternative method of commemorating Stonewall, noting that within a demographic that has been historically misrepresented and heavily stereotyped, oral histories can honor a collective historical narrative from which LGBTQIA+ individuals have been historically excluded. Because many gay men were lost to the AIDS Crisis, and members of the community have been lost to suicide or were forced to live in the closet in order to preserve their safety, there has also been difficulty using oral histories to memorialize queer and trans experiences.
Chris E. Vargas LGBT AIDS Crisis