Amid national LGBTQ rights concerns, city welcomes new Pride monument to art collection
The $500,000 project dedicated at a Friday morning ceremony was funded primarily through private donations, with Palm Springs Pride and individual donors providing 88% of the funding.
Palm Springs unveiled a permanent Pride monument Friday morning at Frances Stevens Park, with Mayor Ron deHarte calling it a “defiant answer” to efforts across the nation to roll back LGBTQ rights.
The civil rights sculpture, created by longtime Palm Springs artist Jim Isermann, consists of 720 triangular pieces arranged to form three universally recognized symbols of LGBTQ solidarity: the triangle, the lambda and the rainbow.
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It is now permanently installed at the corner of East Alejo Road and Indian Canyon Drive after being officially accepted into the city’s permanent public art collection during a dedication celebration that saw dozens of community members attend.
“We stand here today at a time of profound contradiction in and throughout the nation,” said deHarte, who also serves as president and CEO of Palm Springs Pride. “On one hand, we see the overwhelming success and vibrant reality of the LGBTQ community across America. On the other hand, we witness a calculated, coordinated effort by political administrations and legislative bodies everywhere to erase, silence and in effect, disappear the lives, histories and rights of LGBTQ plus citizens.”
The $500,000 project was funded primarily through private donations, with Palm Springs Pride and individual donors providing 88% of the funding. The city’s Public Arts Commission contributed 12% toward installation costs.
Isermann explained his design process began with creating individual triangular modules, which he then multiplied to create the larger structure. The monument includes an informational panel explaining the historical significance of each symbol, including the lambda’s selection in 1970 as the first symbol for the New York Gay Activist Alliance.
“It was chosen for three reasons,” Isermann said. “One, its symbolism of energy and change, light and knowledge and unity. And these things are as important today.”
The dedication marks the beginning of a year-long celebration of the 40th anniversary of Pride in Palm Springs. Al Jones, president of the Palm Springs Pride monument board, led the three-year project that began with an international competition drawing 53 design proposals from 45 countries.
Public Arts Commission Chair Gary Armstrong said the monument represents the first piece in a planned collection for Frances Stevens Park, which he envisions as “the park of social voices.”
“We are living in a time when our federal government is rolling back hard-won civil rights,” Armstrong said. “In such time, public art is not a luxury, it is a necessity. It tells the truth when others try to silence it.”
Human Rights Commission Chair Hugo Loyola emphasized the monument’s significance as an affirmation of human rights in the city.
“This sculpture is not just only an achievement of art, it is an affirmation of human rights,” Loyola said. “The pride monument’s form, weaving together the lambda, the triangle and the rainbow, reminds us all that civic rights are not static.”
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