10/20/2016
By Ivan Pereira
Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced a competition Thursday for the artist who will design an LGBT memorial in the city.
Cuomo said the winner will be in charge of creating a site that will honor the women and men who fought for decades to secure equal rights for the gay community and inspire people around the world. It will also pay tribute to the victims of the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando in June, Cuomo said when he announced the memorial ahead of the 2016 NYC Pride March.
“New York has a storied history of being at the forefront of the fight for equal rights and it is essential that we always honor the people who sought to achieve fairness for the LGBT community,” he said in a statement.
A committee made up of several notable New Yorkers, including State Parks commissioner Rose Harvey, former City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and transgender rights advocate Melissa Sklarz, will go over the submissions and make a recommendation to Cuomo, who has final say.
Interested applicants can submit their applications online at www.ny.gov/programs/lgbt-memorial-commission by Nov. 21.
The location of the $800,000 memorial hasn’t been decided but the governor said he was looking at Battery Park City or Chelsea Piers.
