Though we have expected the news for some time, President Barack Obama just made it official: The Stonewall Inn, a New York City gay bar, has just become the country’s latest national monument, and the first (of 412) to “specifically” highlight the LGBTQ community.
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In June of 1969, members of New York City’s LGBTQ community—led by heroic trans women of color like Marsha P Johnson and Silvia Rivera (who identified as a “half sister”)—fought back against the city’s police, who regularly raided gay bars at the time. The Stonewall riots, as they came to be known, have been considered by many to mark the beginning of the modern gay rights movement. And now the “nearly 8 acres” where they occurred is a national landmark. A gay bar. Right alongside The Statue of Liberty and Mount Rushmore.
You can watch The White House’s official video commemorating Stonewall’s new status above. Happy Pride.
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