The Gay Rub is a project by Steven Reigns devoted to collecting rubbings from LGBTQ historical markers, signs, tombstones, cenotaphs, plaques, and monuments. By gathering LGBTQ rubbings from across the globe, these public historic commemorations can be viewed at once. LGBTQ history and landmarks are underrepresented and underappreciated. The Gay Rub’s aim is to help draw more attention to the markers and the LGBTQ significance that prompted them.
Steven Reigns is a Los Angeles-based poet and educator and was appointed the first Poet Laureate of West Hollywood. Alongside over a dozen chapbooks, he has published collections such as Inheritance and Your Dead Body is My Welcome Mat.
Reigns holds a BA in Creative Writing from the University of South Florida, a Master of Clinical Psychology from Antioch University, and is an eleven-time recipient of The Los Angeles County’s Department of Cultural Affairs’ Artist in Residency Grant. Currently he is touring The Gay Rub, an exhibition of rubbings from LGBT landmarks, facilitates the monthly Lambda Lit Book Club, and is at work on a new collection of poetry.
Director Michael J. Saul is fairly new to documentary filmmaking, but he was a pioneer in the San Francisco art and film scene of the 1980s, producing a series of experimental films with musical collaborator Steven M. Miller which found success in film festivals around the world. With the new short doc, The Gay Rub, Saul shines a spotlight on the important work that Reigns has been doing and offers viewers an exclusive look at this profoundly impressive collection.
The Gay Rub is now available on Dekkoo.
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