A new traveling memorial called Gay American Heroes is being put together to honor GLBT victims of hate crimes. Scott Hall, founder and chairman of Gay American Heroes who lives in Cocoa Beach, Fla., recently contacted Jack Rutland, executive director of Stonewall Library & Archives in Fort Lauderdale. The two men agreed that the library will serve as the repository for information gathered for the memorial....
Each section of the memorial will be 8 feet tall by 12 feet long. All together, the memorial will be 120 feet. One side of the exhibit will spell out “Heroes,” and on the back of each corresponding letter, there will be a picture of a hate-crime victim. “Heroes” will be set against a rainbow-colored background.
“It’s very visual,” Hall explained. “Our goal is to go to every town where a hate crime took place.” Hall hopes that the exhibit will make an impact all over the United States with all kinds of people. One of his goals is to find a venue for the exhibit in Washington, D.C.
The traveling memorial won’t just list names; it will also list the victim’s occupation.
“It gives more meaning to the fact,” he said. “It says that this could have been the person who saved your mother’s life in a fire or the person who saved you from cancer. We are going to put a face on it.”
