Our society has gotten away with forgetting

LGBTQ+ people have been erased from history and underrepresented. It wasn’t until
recently that strides have been made to give proper representation and memorialization
to the LGBTQ+ community. Despite our changes in recent years, identities which are
not cisgender or heterosexual are still the cultural other. When we add in the
intersectionality of having a disability, we notice a dramatic decline of representation in
our culture. The supreme court case Buck vs. Bell led to the sterilization of 65,000
people over the course of 50 years (Ko). This is one example of how our culture has
infantilized people with disabilities, further ostracizing them within their communities. We
need to allow LGBTQ+ people with disabilities to explore all aspects of themselves, as
stated by A. Noonan and M. Taylor Gomez in their article ​Who’s Missing? Awareness of
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender People with Intellectual Disability: ​”The lack of
relationships affects all aspects of a person’s life and people with intellectual disability
are no exception.”

The fight for visibility on behalf of those with disabilities has a long history in America.
Just like every civil rights movement, this movement came to life because of the
activists who pushed forward to make the change that was necessary for equality. In the
1900s, groups of people with disabilities gained popularity and members. As they
gained members, they also gained visibility from the public. Because of these activists,
changes were made on a federal level to make America a more tolerable place for
people with disabilities. Laws were passed which protected people with disabilities in
schools and in the workplace. Sections were also written into the 1973 Rehabilitation
Act which would grant even more protection and equality to those with disabilities,
however these laws were not implemented (Meldon). After being disregarded time after
time by President Carter, the American Coalition of Citizens with Disabilities began to
put more pressure on the matter, saying that they would take action if their needs were
not met by April 5, 1977 (Meldon). Because Carter procrastinated on signing the
regulations, 150 civil rights activists began a sit-in protest at the Federal Building in San
Francisco (Grim). After that month long protest, finally the regulations were signed,
unchanged. Kitty Cone, an organizer of the sit-in said “disability really was looked at as
an issue of civil rights rather than an issue of charity and rehabilitation at best, pity at
worst.” (Grim) It is because of the resilience of these activists that change was made for
those living with disabilities.

In addition to the fight for visibility and equality for those with disabilities, the LGBTQ+
community has also experienced similar political struggles for their validity and visibility.
In fact, until the 20th century, being LGBTQ+ was observed in the DSM as being a
disability. Although there isn’t anything wrong with having a disability, we now know that
seeing one’s sexuality as being a disability can be dangerous to one’s well being,
especially if medical practices are trying to “fix” it. Dr. Franklin Kameny was one victim
of discrimination during these harmful narratives. He served as an astronomer for the
US Military and was eventually fired for not revealing his sexuality to the government.
He dedicated his life to creating equality for the LGBTQ+ community and he
successfully led the movement to legally abolish homosexuality from the DSM (Meldon).
Although it is important that we do not see being homosexual as being a disability
because of attempts to cure homosexuality, it is important that we recognize and
remember today’s members of the LGBTQ+ community with disabilities as well as those
who’ve passed on.

We would also like to focus our memorial on two other people as well. One is
Jazzie Collins, and the other is Bobbie Lea Bennett. Jazzie Collins was born on
September 24, 1958. She passed away in San Francisco in July of 2013. She was an
African American transgender woman who was HIV positive (Buchanan). She fought
hard throughout her life for equality for people who are LGBTQ+ and people who are
disabled. Some of the things that she did were: organizing the yearly trans march,
running the food pantry “6th street agenda”, vice chair of LGBT for senior disabled
housing task force, and many more (Al-Mohomed). It is hard to highlight everything that
she did in her life, because she did so many amazing things in her activist work.

Bobbie Lea Bennett was also a transgender woman. She was a wheelchair user,
because of a rare bone disease. In 1978, Bobbie went through gender affirmation
surgery. She would told that her surgery would be covered by Medicare’s Social
Security disability benefits program. They then denied this payment with no explanation.
Bobbie then rallied the community for her case. She drove all the way across the
country, and ended up in the office of the Medicare Director, Thomas M. Tierney. She
didn’t leave until Thomas spoke with her. He ended up giving her a check paying for the
gender affirmation surgery (Ellison). She became a huge activist in the LQBTQ+
community.

We want to create a space to memorialize these people who have paved the
road for LGBTQ+ people who have disabilities. To do this, we want to create a space at
UC Berkeley that memorializes these people, but also gives LQBTQ+ people who have
a disability a space where they can easily access and feel safe. UC Berkeley has
proven to be LQBTQ+ friendly and also accepting of people with disabilities. We will
have ambiguous status that many people could identify with. There will also be three
plaques remembering LGBTQ+ people with disabilities from the past. One plaque will
be for Dr. Franklin Kameny, one for Bobbie Lea Bennett, and one for Jazzie Collins.
They will be laying on a bed of flowers, which symbolizes that every person is a part of
the natural world and we are all equal. We also want to include 3 benches, each for one
of the people we are memorializing. These benches will be disability accessible and
have a plaque on each of them to commemorate these three amazing individuals. The
paths leading to this space will all be disability friendly to make sure that everyone can
access it. We think that it is very important to create spaces that memorialize what
these people have done for LQBTQ+ people who have a disability, but also give those
future activists a safe space to go and remember the people before them.

Our society and culture has been erasing LQBTQ+ people who have a disability
for ages. You never hear about these activists and people because our society only
focuses on the idea heterosexual able-bodied archetype. Even when doing research for
this memorial, the information was hard to find because of the amount of erasure that
has taken place. We want to create a place where a large amount of people can walk by
everyday, and remember the LGBTQ+ people with disabilities. No one should be erased
from history. We want to create something that will bring this group of people into the
spotlight and fight the erasure that has been going on for too long.

How our society chooses to publically memorialize people and events will affect
the masses’ perceptions of the past. These memorials are not only liberating to those
who are being remembered, but it also liberates communities as they can remember
events as told by those being remembered. Eunsun Cho, a former editorial assistant at
World Policy Journal said “Consequently, when such works of art create enough
psychological freedom to reflect on the event, they guide people to think outside the
conventional narratives. These kinds of art not only allow for a higher level of
engagement between the audience and the object, but also encourage people to form
their own views on their society.”

Our memorial will unerase queer people with disabilities by making them visible
to UC Berkeley students. We have chosen UC Berkeley because of the early advances
in accessible architecture which was inspired by the activism of students advocating for
those with disabilities and the needs of people with disabilities (Meldon). We hope this
memorial would continue to inspire the students of UC Berkeley to be advocates of
change for their communities as their alumni once were.

With this memorial, we will have an inclusive and intersectional area that all
students of UC Berkeley can enjoy. With queer people of disabilities, the unerasure is
the most important because of how we’ve infantilized them and their invisibility even in
today’s culture. Even today, we have not overturned Buck Vs. Bell, the court case
leading to the sterilization of tens of thousands of people with “Mental Illness” or
“Developmental Disabilities” between the 1920’s and 1970’s. We are not noticing that
we are, at least, the partial cause of disability, in an interview “American participants
defined disability primarily as a ‘difference’ that prevents a person from fully participating
in life without the assistance of others or technology.”(Stortz, 76) With this memorial’s
awareness, we would offer the idea that by creating a more accessible world, those with
disabilities can be more active in their communities.

For a large institution like UC Berkeley, they have the resources to complete a
moderately sized project like this. The positive message and the stories that are being
told will attract many more students like those who have been erased which we are
memorializing, as well as the those who love inclusive spaces and institutions. It is
necessary we propose this idea now because their master plan ends in 2020. This way,
they can add a space like this in their quad (Capitol Strategies Berkeley). In recent
years, statues and have become more feasible for everyday people and everyday
institutions. The location of UC Berkeley is important as well because of the scale of the
campus. UC Berkeley is one of the larger university campuses in the United States and
they could spare the space for the monument. They could definitely spare a square
piece of green space that is only 65 ft by 65 ft. UC Berkeley also has the financial
ability as well because of the large endowment they receive every year which is about
4.6 billion dollars, and they could afford to spend money on a beautiful space that would
represent a community that Berkeley is known for loving and being able to rewrite some
erased history of a side of that community. If they are worried about the cost, there are
many people who would possibly be able to ask to help. One example is Ryan O’
Connell who is starring in a Netflix original about a boy who is queer and has a cerebral
palsy. UC Berkeley also allows submission of ideas for different projects for the school
and for smaller scale projects under 35000 dollars, while projects costing over 100000
would have to be considered by an additional committee. (Capital Strategies Berkeley)
Our proposed seating area/quad would fit into these parameters well and would only
cost around 35 to 50 thousand which could be brought down in price significantly
because of the connections a large institution that UC Berkeley would have.
Additionally, we would propose the idea to sell bricks with names of donors inscribed in
them. The top tier of bricks would be a minimum donation of $1000, the middle tear
would be a minimum donation of $500, and the bottom tier would be a minimum
donation of $100 dollars. This way, students who have smaller income still have the
opportunity to be part of the memorial. Additionally, the bricks can be inscribed over
time so donations will continue to fund the upkeep of the memorial. Any additional
money from donations which aren’t used for the upkeep of the memorial should be
divided into the budgets which fund accessibility for the school and the Chancellor’s
Advisory Committee on the LGBTQ Community, which advocates for an inclusive
environment for LGBTQ+ students and staff. The appeal of this space for UC Berkeley
is great because it offers a unique look at a marginalized community which has been
forgotten. With the large student population of over 40 thousand as well as the
surrounding city of Berkeley having a population of over 120 thousand, these individuals
would never be forgotten about and they would be seen by thousands of people
everyday.

With this memorial being on UC Berkeley property, we understand the concern

on the “what ifs”. This memorial will be inclusive, beautiful, and fit into UC Berkeley’s
master plan. This memorial is subtle enough to not provoke a negative response, but
educates observers on the experiences of LGBTQ+ people with disabilities. This would
be an inclusive space that students from all walks of life can enjoy. As a memorial
honoring queer people with disabilities, we’re unerasing a past which is seldom
remembered, honoring the people suffering in the present and creating an area where
people in the future can see that queer people with disabilities were recognized and
loved by their predecessors.

Our statue will be a place where students, administration, and the general public,
can go to remember activists whose resilience and determination made the world a
better place for both queer people, and people with disabilities. We want to honor
people with these intersectionalities as being one with nature to demonstrate that they
have existed since the beginning of time and will continue to exist forever. UC Berkeley
is the perfect place for this memorial because of the advances in accessible living which
took place there in the 1960s because of activist students. Our team would like to thank
you for taking the time to consider our proposal. We are excited to hear back from you.

Thank you for your time,

Gabriele Phelps, Corbin Gross, Alyssa Rangel, Aimee Johnson

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