Raising the Visibility of LGBTQ+ Landscapes, Pioneers, and More
In 2026, thanks to support provided by Fund for the City of New York on behalf of its fiscally sponsored project, the NYC LGBTQ Historic Sites Project, The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) expanded the digital What’s Out There New York City Cultural Landscapes guide to include a greater diversity of landscapes that make visible the city’s vibrant LGBTQ+ history and culture.
The guide, one of two dozen digital What’s Out There guides, includes several landscape profiles associated with LGBTQ+ culture, events, and individuals. The Christopher Park landscape profile, for example, considers the site’s role during the Stonewall Uprising; the entry for The Ramble in Central Park mentions the site’s historic use by gay men; and the NYC AIDS Memorial Park at St. Vincent’s Triangle profile reveals recent efforts to commemorate New Yorkers who died of AIDS and the caregivers and activists who advocated for them. The guide also features the work of LGBTQ+ practitioners, including artist Keith Haring, who painted a mural at James J. Walker Park and Tony Dapolito Recreation Center, and landscape architect Bruce Kelly, who in Central Park rehabilitated the Shakespeare Garden and designed Strawberry Fields.
The guide’s expansion stems from TCLF’s ongoing efforts to draw immediate and lasting attention to LGBTQ+ sites, and the people and events associated with their historic significance. In addition to written biographical profiles and site entries in the What’s Out There database, gay landscape architect Claude Cormier was the subject of a 2023 Pioneers of Landscape Design Oral History Project; while the Landslide program has brought critical attention to Druid Heights in Marin County, CA; and Independence Mall in Philadelphia, PA.
The purpose of this collection is not to ascribe labels to those who did not publicly identify as LGBTQ+, nor to define them by their sexual orientation, but rather add to the growing discourse surrounding the contributions by LGBTQ+ practitioners to our shared cultural landscape heritage and provide avenues for further research and discussion.
Do you know of a publicly accessible landscape in your community that is significant to the LGBTQ+ community and would like to nominate it to be included the What’s Out There database? If so, please contact allan@tclf.org. We look forward to hearing from you.
