{"id":50779,"date":"2025-12-09T02:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-09T01:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ket.brussels\/?p=50779"},"modified":"2025-11-30T19:38:06","modified_gmt":"2025-11-30T18:38:06","slug":"from-celluloid-to-concrete-how-suzan-daniel-got-her-own-bridge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ket.brussels\/en\/2025\/12\/09\/from-celluloid-to-concrete-how-suzan-daniel-got-her-own-bridge\/","title":{"rendered":"From Celluloid to Concrete: How Suzan Daniel Got Her Own Bridge"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Brussels named a bridge over its canal after Suzan Daniel to honor one of the key pioneers of the LGBTQ+ movement in Belgium, and to make lesbian activism visible in the city\u2019s public space. The Suzan Daniel Bridge, opened in 2022 near Tour & Taxis and the Canal, symbolically connects neighborhoods while also highlighting a woman whose work connected queer communities long before Pride flags flew on official buildings.<\/strong><\/a>\u200b<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who was Suzan Daniel?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Suzan Daniel, born Suzanne De Pues in Brussels in 1918, was a lesbian activist who became involved in local queer circles as early as the 1930s. She is widely regarded as a founding figure of the LGBTQ+ movement in Belgium, both through her community work and her efforts to document queer lives.<\/a>\u200b<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She was Belgium\u2019s first female film critic, adopting the name \u201cDaniel\u201d in tribute to French actress Danielle Darrieux, and used cultural work as a pathway into public debate. In 1953, she created the Centre culturel de Belgique (CCB), the first Belgian association for gay men and lesbians, carefully named so it could exist in a hostile social and legal context.<\/a>\u200b<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From erasure to recognition<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Although she founded the CCB, Suzan Daniel was soon pushed aside as men took control of the group, mirroring broader sexist patterns within early homophile movements. In the second half of her life she lived more discreetly, but remained a reference point for later generations of activists and historians.<\/a>\u200b<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1996, the Suzan Daniel Fund was created as Belgium\u2019s first LGBTQ+ archive and documentation center, preserving queer histories that had often been erased or destroyed. When she died in Laeken in 2007, she left behind a legacy of militant energy and cultural engagement that had helped lay the groundwork for later legal advances such as equal marriage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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