Weho Artist Rubs Things the Gay Way

Imagine a collection of rubbings from all the LGBTQ historical markers, plaques, monuments and gravestones from around the world.  

That’s what Steven Reigns has in mind with his Gay Rub project. He wants to create a traveling display of these rubbings for showings at galleries and LGBT centers.

“By gathering LGBTQ rubbings from across the globe, these public historic commemorations can be viewed at once,” said Reigns, a St. Louis native who moved to Los Angeles six years ago. “It’s a unique way of telling art history.”

The kind of markers Reigns means are things like the plaque in front of Harvey Milk’s old camera store on Castro Street, the plaque at the Stonewall Inn in New York City commemorating the Stonewall Riots or the gravestone of Oscar Wilde.

Rubbings are collected by placing white fabric over a plaque/gravestone and rubbing a black crayon over it repeatedly to get an impression. A special kind of fabric called “tear-away fabric” is used because it doesn’t stretch. Having the texture of a dryer sheet, tear-away fabric, also known as Pellon, is often used for embroidery to make it stiffer.

The idea for the Gay Rub started when Reigns, who did his first rubbing in sixth grade summer camp, began pondering how LGBT people are represented in historic markers.

“How are we being presented to the world?” he said. “We know gay history and landmarks are underrepresented and under appreciated. This will bring greater attention to what is there.”

Reigns began collecting rubbings in January 2010 and already has more than 100. About half of those he did himself; the rest were submitted through friends and contacts he’s made on his website.

He is inviting people who live near a LGBT historic marker or who may be traveling near one to make rubbings and submit them.

“If people are traveling and can’t find or afford the materials, I’ll mail supplies to them,” said Reigns, who has a detailed list on his website of needed/desired plaques and gravestones and where they are located.  

High on his want list is a plaque in Paris honoring French poet/novelist/playwright Jean Cocteau. “It’s the side of his face; it’s a striking profile,” said Reigns.

Reigns is also anxious to get rubbings from various gay Holocaust monuments around the world. “There are actually a number of them,” he said.

Many cities have put up markers for gay people or events. West Hollywood has four in Matthew Shepard Memorial Park at Crescent Heights and Santa Monica boulevards. They honor transgender people, queers in protest and activists and Morris Kight.

But the first U.S. government-approved historic plaque recognizing the gay-rights struggle was erected last year in Philadelphia at Sixth and Chestnut streets. It commemorates a 1965 march for equal rights organized by activist Frank Kameny.

Reigns, an educator and poet who recently released a collection of poetry, Inheritance, sees his marker project as an artistic extension. “This is activism and educational but it’s also artistic,” he said. “When doing rubbings, I’m awed by the topography, the lettering and the artisans who created these plaques.”  

Sometimes he has to clean the markers to get the dirt and grime off in order to get a good rubbing. “It’s a very loving act to clean them,” he said. “The plaques always look better after I leave.”