Stonewall National Monument: Marking Nearly 60 Years of Pride and Resilience
It is the first National Monument designated to mark LGBTQIA+ history. President Obama designated the Stonewall National Monument on June 24, 2016, becoming official on June 27, 2016. The road to designation was a long one.
In the 1990s Village Preservation, then known as Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP), along with the now-defunct Organization of Lesbian and Gay Architects and Designers, were co-nominators for the Stonewall Inn and surrounding area to for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. This step was achieved on June 21, 1999. Then in 2000, it became a National Historic Landmark.
At a local level, Village Preservation spearheaded a campaign to get the Landmarks Preservation Commission to designate Stonewall an individual New York City landmark, which occurred after a year and a half on June 23, 2015. This was the first time the city had designated a landmark for its importance in LGBTQIA+ history.
Stonewall continues to make history beyond the June 28, 1969, Stonewall Rebellion and its designation as the first official LGBTQIA+ National Monument in 2016. On June 28, 2024, the Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center, opens as the first LGBTQIA+ visitor center in the National Park System.
The visitor center is a partnership between Pride Live and the National Park Service. This incredible project to create and open the visitor center dates from Stonewall’s designation as a National Monument and has been spearheaded by its co-founders Diana Rodriguez and Ann Marie Gothard, also the co-founders of Pride Live.
Located at 51 Christopher Street, next to the Stonewall Inn and across the street from Christopher Park, the Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center is an educational resource offering interactive exhibitions, artistic displays, and engaging programs to fulfill the mission of carrying forward “the Stonewall legacy and the ongoing fight for full LGBTQIA+ equality.”
While Stonewall is recognized as a critical turning point for the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement in the U.S., it is important to acknowledge how deep LGBTQIA+ history is in our neighborhoods, stretching from well over a century before 1969 up to this day. Village Preservation’s Civil Rights and Social Justice Map includes nearly 60 sites of significance to LGBTQIA+ history and continues to add new ones. Begin your tour of this history at the Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center and continue exploring with the map to sites such as Allan Ginsberg’s residence, the former site of Pfaff’s, The Pyramid Club, Julius’ Bar, and so many more. Along the way you will discover how our neighborhoods are an intersection of incredible people and places that made important contributions to civil rights and social justice struggles for African-Americans, Women, Latinos, Immigrants, as well as LGBTQIA+ people.