Push for new national park site honoring LGBT history

In 1969, the gay-friendly establishment was the site of an historic uprising against the police, the labor pains for what would become a powerful gay liberation movement.

Stonewall is a gay tavern and recreational bar in New York City… Celebrating there just made sense. If he agrees, a congressional vote to determine national park status would follow.

The United States may soon have its first-ever national park that honors the LGBT community. “I would say [the Stonewall Inn] is already a historic landmark”.

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and Representative Jerrold Nadler called for the tavern to be declared a national park Sunday.

During his second inauguration in 2013, Obama mentioned Stonewall and the struggle for LGBT equality as being on a par with women’s and civil rights.

Standing in front of Christopher Park, the narrow green wedge opposite the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, and flanked by almost a dozen government officials and activists, the lawmakers said they would introduce legislation for a national park there. 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.

“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. In May 2014, the Interior Department convened a 20-scholar initiative to find and designate more historic LGBT sites.