Obama designates Stonewall Inn as a national monument
Public dedication ceremony for site honoring LGBT rights movement scheduled for June 27
Just in time for New York’s Pride weekend, and the anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall riots that are credited with giving visibility to the nation’s LGBT community, President Obama has named the Stonewall Inn, the site of the aforementioned riots, as the first national monument dedicated to LGBT rights.
“I’m designating the Stonewall National Monument as the newest addition to America’s National Park System. Stonewall will be our first national monument to tell the story of the struggle for LGBT rights,” Obama said in a statement on the official White House Blog. “I believe our national parks should reflect the full story of our country, the richness and diversity and uniquely American spirit that has always defined us. That we are stronger together. That out of many, we are one.”
The Stonewall National Monument will encompass 7.7 acres of land, including the Stonewall Inn, the surrounding streets and sidewalks, and Christopher Park, a community park across from the inn near the intersection of Christopher, West 4th and Grove Streets. Obama’s designation of the site as a national monument will create the first official National Park Service unit outlining the history of the LGBT community and the start of the modern-day LGBT equality movement.
In addition, the National Park Foundation announced that it will be forming a local Friends Group to support the monument and raise money to pay for dedicated National Park Service personnel, a temporary ranger station and visitor center, research and materials and various exhibits to be housed at the Inn and at Christopher Park.
For years, the LGBT community in New York City and across the country has pushed to make the Stonewall Inn either a national park or a national monument honoring the contributions of LGBT Americans, including at a recent public meeting with Interior Secretary Sally Jewell and National Park Service Director Jonathan Jarvis in May. A trio of New York Democratic lawmakers, U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler and Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer, also introduced legislation to make Stonewall a national park. But, realizing such a proposal might fail in an anti-LGBT Congress, they urged Obama to use his executive power to designate Stonewall as a national monument.
The National Parks Conservation Association was also influential in pushing for the designation. Along with several of its national and local partner organizations, NPCA was gathered more than 26,000 signatures on a petition calling on President Obama to create a national park for Stonewall. Additionally, more than 90 organizations and businesses from around the country publicly supported the creation of a park for Stonewall by signing a letter sent to President Obama earlier this year.
“There are places in America so powerful, they helped shape our nation’s history and culture, and must never be forgotten,” Theresa Pierno, the president and CEO of NPCA, said in a statement. “Stonewall Inn, and the area surrounding this historic site, is one such place. Thanks to President Obama, Stonewall is protected and its story will be told for generations to come.”
In 2014, the U.S. Department of the Interior launched a “theme study” to ensure that the National Park Service was adequately and accurately reflecting the history and stories of the nation’s minority groups, including the LGBT community. That study helped encourage LGBT activists and historians to push for LGBT places to be included on the National Register of Historic Places and apply for status as National Historic Landmarks. There are currently seven LGBT-related placed on the National Register, and two sites, including the Stonewall Inn, that have been designated as historic landmarks.
“Today’s historic designation reaffirms the administration’s commitment to preserving special places that define who we are as a nation and that better reflect our diverse and evolving population,” Pierno added. “Adding underrepresented stories like Stonewall’s within the National Park System is critical. Today’s designation will forever honor the events at Stonewall that have come to mean so much for so many people, and will continue to inspire many for years to come.”
LGBT rights advocates celebrated the president’s decision to designate the site a national monument.
“On behalf of the LGBT Equality Caucus, I want to thank President Obama for this historic designation of Stonewall National Monument,” said Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wisc.), co-chair of the LGBT Equality Caucus. “Stonewall was the spark that activated the LGBT equality movement. We owe a great deal to the courageous individuals who stood up and refused to give in to harassment and discrimination. Particularly in the wake of the Pulse shooting, Stonewall’s memory inspires all of us to keep fighting every day until LGBT people have full legal and social equality.”
“This is a great tribute the courage, leadership, and action of the LGBTQ community in our continuing quest for full freedom, justice and equality,” Russell Roybal, the deputy executive director of the National LGBTQ Task Force, said in a statement. “Trans and gender non-conforming people of color led the riots at Stonewall nearly five decades ago — and it is a cruel irony that today these folks face some of the highest levels of poverty, homelessness, discrimination and violence in our community. So while the Christopher Street Park National Monument will provide a focus for our community in times of happiness and in times of grief, it will also provide a vital beacon of inspiration as we continue the struggle for lived liberation.”
The monument will be officially dedicated in New York on Monday, June 27, in a ceremony with federal, state and local officials and LGBT leaders. Special guests scheduled to speak at the public dedication include Jewell, Jarvis, Christy Goldfuss, managing director of the White House Council on Environmental Quailtiy, and Valerie Jarreet, the White House Senior Advisor to the President.
Additional reporting was provided by contributing writer Troy Petenbrink.
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