Stonewall 50 Art Exhibit on Display at COD

PALM DESERT —Stonewall 50: Half a Century of LGBTQ Activism is on display Oct. 14 through Nov. 14, 2019, at College of the Desert.

An opening reception will be held on Tuesday, Oct. 29 from 5-7 p.m. at the Walter N. Marks Center for the Arts. Live entertainment will be provided by DJ Rowland Akinduro of Mobile Genius. Light refreshments will be provided. The event is free and open to the public.

The Stonewall 50 exhibition features the work of 13 artists, including: Stephen Baumbach, John Breitweiser, Marconi Calindas, Marlene D. Cohen, David Goetz, Terry Hastings, Sallé Kirby, Yvette Marthell, WM. Marquez, John Nagus, Felice Newman, Piper Scott and Ambriel Styve-Hector. The exhibit comprises a variety of media, including installation, video, photography, photomontage, sculpture, drawing and painting.

Stonewall 50 serves as a historical timeline regarding activism by the LGBTQ community in the United States. In the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at Stonewall Inn in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City, a group of gay, lesbian and transgendered bar patrons fought back against a police raid. The demonstrations and riots that followed are considered by most to be the beginning of the gay liberation movement in the United States.

A vast majority of Americans don’t know that New York’s Stonewall Inn is where the key turning point in LGBTQ rights started 50 years ago, according to Bospar.

In fact, only 15% of its survey respondents got it right. Bospar, a PR firm,  conducted the survey for the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising for this June’s Pride Month, polling more than 2,000 American adults from May 24-31, 2019.

President Obama designated the Stonewall National Monument, America’s first LGBTQ national park site, in June 2016.

The public is encouraged to join the Marks Art Center in celebrating this momentous history and in commemorating a half century of activism and pride by the LGBTQ community.

College of the Desert’s Walter N. Marks Center for the Arts is located at 43500 Monterey Ave., Palm Desert. Gallery hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and by appointment. For more information, please contact the Marks Art Center at 760.776.7278.