The only queer monument in the southern United States is a statue of a dolphin

Although homosexual behavior is common in dolphins, the marine mammal isn’t necessarily a symbol of queerness. That is, unless you’re visiting Galveston Island, Texas, where a dolphin made of red sandstone sourced from the region’s coast floats mid-air, frozen in time and Pride.

GayCities invites readers to rub noses with the Pink Dolphin Monument, one of 12 statues worldwide memorializing gay rights and the first of its kind in the southern United States.

What is the Pink Dolphin Monument?

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The Pink Dolphin Monument is a monument dedicated to gender and sexual minority communities. It is part of a global network of 12 LGBTQ+ landmarks. The monument’s official page credits Galveston’s “festive history” and explains the creators, artist Joe Joe Orangias, writer Sarah Sloane, and scientist Frank Prega, “borrowed the image of the pink dolphin from Galveston’s iconic Pink Dolphin Tavern as well as the logo of the Pink Posse, a group open to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex, asexual, allied, pansexual, Two Spirit (LGBTQIAP2) activists on the island.”

The dolphin came to fruition on Galveston Island in 2014. It is approximately the size of a small dolphin (36” x 16” x 13”). (The statue itself is supported by a five-foot pedestal designed to create an impression of a dolphin jumping overhead.)

Landmarks of visible allyship are ripples for change

Although the dolphin statue is devoid of color, the specification of pink in its name is a tribute to the color’s strong ties to supporting all genders and sexualities. Pink was one of the seven stripes in the original 1978 Pride flag created by Gilbert Baker. The Nazis also used pink triangles to label queer prisoners – a symbol that has since been reclaimed as an emblem of LGBTQ+ strength and resilience.

Underneath the statue, there’s a poem plaque reading:

The path that led you here
through giant gold headdresses
shaking in the wind
below a long calligraphy of stars –
finds you standing in R.A. Apffel Park
lit by dreams of dolphins rising
pink arches in the dark

The importance of queer monuments can vary from place to place and person to person. However, one can’t help but imagine they carry more weight in conservative cities than in their liberal counterparts, where queerness more visibly thrives. Galveston is one of several cities in Texas that refuse to fall in line with homophobia, choosing humanity over the state’s political affiliation.

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