Orangias Joseph, Simms Jeannie, French Sloane
Independent Researcher, Brooklyn, New York and Geneva, Switzerland.
School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Tufts University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
J Homosex. 2018;65(6):705-726. doi: 10.1080/00918369.2017.1364106. Epub 2017 Aug 22.
Public monuments function as cultural agents, reifying dominant public narratives or fostering change. Either way, their representation of people and events intervene in public discourse and contribute to cultural, economic, political, and social environments. Queer monuments, defined here as heritage sites that honor gender and sexual minorities, represent communities that have often been excised in dominant public narratives. This article provides a preliminary global inventory of queer monuments and describes three of their major functions: (1) to provide visibility and reduce stigma; (2) to educate the public on the abuse and attempted extermination of gender and sexual minorities; and (3) to stimulate public debate and discourse about gender and sexual minority rights. This still rare type of monument is growing more common and prompting more active and equitable representations in public space. Queer monuments have the potential of lessening stigma and improving the lives of sexual and gender minorities.
公共纪念碑作为文化载体，强化着主流公共叙事或推动变革。无论哪种方式，它们对人物和事件的呈现都介入了公共话语，并对文化、经济、政治和社会环境产生影响。酷儿纪念碑（在这里被定义为纪念性别和性少数群体的遗产地）代表了那些在主流公共叙事中常常被剔除的社群。本文提供了一份酷儿纪念碑的初步全球清单，并描述了它们的三个主要功能：（1）提高可见度并减少污名化；（2）向公众宣传性别和性少数群体所遭受的虐待和种族灭绝企图；（3）激发关于性别和性少数群体权利的公众辩论和话语。这种仍然罕见的纪念碑类型正变得越来越普遍，并促使在公共空间中有更积极和平等的呈现。酷儿纪念碑有减轻污名化并改善性少数群体和性别少数群体生活的潜力。
