Lawmakers: Make Stonewall Inn a national park site

The Stonewall Inn was the setting in June 1969 of riots that are regarded as a landmark in the gay rights movement. Following a police raid in a time where even cross-dressing was punishable with prison, The LGBT community took a stand and fought back against the discrimination that they were facing.

Kirsten Gillibrand and Charles Schumer and Congressman Jerrold Nadler, have launched a campaign to have The Stonewall Inn designated as the first national park site dedicated to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender history. But Gillibrand and Nadler are hopeful that the White House and more influential lawmakers, such as Democratic presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, will back the mission. “Hopefully, he’ll be here to inaugurate it”.

The New York legislators have agreed to urge President Barack Obama to officially declare Stonewall a monument in preparation of a later congressional vote.

“There’s a national park site in Seneca Falls that tells the story of the women’s rights movement”.

The Stonewall Inn is already part of the Greenwich Village Historic District and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.

“It’s important for people to know the history, and instead of being a shameful secret and being the kind of people who get destroyed really for being who they are, we ought to be celebrated for who we are”, Shelley said.