New Fire Island Pines park honors LGBTQ rights trailblazers

A new public park dedicated to trailblazers of the LGBTQ rights movement was unveiled Saturday at Fire Island Pines Harbor, a site that organizers say will honor the legacies of activists — both well-known and underrepresented. 

Trailblazers Park comes from the Fire Island Pines Property Owners Association, which had formed a committee following the 2020 killing of George Floyd to explore ways to honor both racial diversity and transgender acceptance. 

Transgender activist and founder of nonprofit Trans Asylias, Iman Le Caire, had previously petitioned the association to create a space to honor Marsha P. Johnson, a Black transgender activist who was a prominent figure during the 1969 Stonewall Inn uprising in Greenwich Village, where patrons fought back against a police raid, helping spark the modern LGBTQ rights movement. 

The park’s centerpiece — the Pines’ first public drinking fountain designed by artist TM Davy — honors both Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, another prominent Stonewall transgender activist. 

A flag exhibit at the park honors 16 trailblazers. The rectangle satin flags were designed by contemporary artists with connections to the Pines and will be replaced in two-year cycles. Trailblazers are selected by a task force formed by the association. 

Task force co-chair Doug Harris said the park represents “a labor of love and also a labor of conscience.” 

“It’s also intended to make a statement about accessibility, inclusivity and diversity in the Pines,” he said. 

Fire Island has a long history as a haven for those in the LGBTQ community. The National Park Service, which oversees the island, calls the LGBTQ communities “a trailblazing force across America.” Both Fire Island Pines and Cherry Grove offered LGBTQ visitors a safe place to visit and express themselves when it was illegal to do so in the United States.

By Brinley Hineman

brinley.hineman@newsday.com

Brinley Hineman covers the Town of Hempstead and the City of Long Beach for Newsday. She previously was a reporter in Nashville, Tennessee, and is a West Virginia native.