New NYC Subway Station Features Mural of Gay Couple

2017 will start on a positive note for some New Yorkers. The Second Avenue subway will finally become a reality on January 1. The line has been in planning for about a century and under construction since the 1970s.

The stations along the line feature artwork by Chuck Close, Vik Muniz, and Sarah Sze. The 72nd Street station features work entitled “Perfect Strangers” by Muniz, a mosaic mural depicting people who ride the subway.

A couple of the people featured are Thor Stockman and Patrick Kellogg. Stockman and Kellogg are husbands who have been married for three-and-a-half years. They were ecstatic to be included.

“It was like winning the lottery,” Stockman told the AP. “Part of me wishes that it wasn’t a rarity, that it wasn’t remarkable.”

For Muniz, it’s not such a rarity in New York.

“They are just people you would expect to see,” the artist said. “You would expect to see men holding hands.”