A brand-new LGBTQ2S+ Canadian national monument is set to be unveiled in Ottawa this week.
Officially named Thunderhead, the monument serves as a space to commemorate and reflect the hardships, experiences and achievements of queer and trans people in Canada.
The main structure is a 30-foot-tall cylinder, with the imprint of a thundercloud hollowed out of its centre. The interior is lined with thousands of mirrored tiles, meant to invoke disco balls while reflecting and refracting light.
The site also includes a garden, stage and a fruit orchard—a nod to the pejorative term “fruit” used to refer to LGBTQ2S+ people and a reference to the “fruit machine” device of the 1950s and 1960s, which supposedly identified homosexuals based on physiological responses. The monument is located in downtown Ottawa near Portage Bridge.
The structure is funded from a successful class-action lawsuit against the Government of Canada by survivors of the LGBT Purge—a systematic campaign targeting LGBTQ2S+ members of the RCMP, public service and military in the second half of the 20th century.
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