A Stonewall visitor centre celebrating LGBTQ history is set to open in 2024
The Stonewall National Monument Visitor Centre will chart the story of the LGBTQ rights movement from the 1969 uprising.
Words: Emily Maskell; pictures: Wiki Commons
A hub to celebrate the legacy of the 1969 Stonewall uprising is to open next to the historic Stonewall Inn in New York.
The announcement of the Stonewall National Monument Visitor Centre, which will open in 2024, was made by the LGBTQ advocacy organisation, Pride Live.
3/ We are excited to announce and celebrate the launch of the Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center (SNMVC), an educational resource center opening at 51 Christopher Street.
— Pride Live (@REALPRIDELIVE) June 21, 2022
The nonprofit will offer a designated space for in-person and virtual tours, lecture series, exhibitions, and visual arts displays dedicated to preserving, advancing, and celebrating the legacy of the Stonewall Rebellion.
Pride Live is overseeing the site’s creation that will include the input of historians, activists, community leaders, and allies to preserve underrepresented histories of LGBTQ+ folks in America.
Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center, coming 2024. #MeetUsAtTheMonument pic.twitter.com/MpyvqO3SKp
— Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center (@stonewallvisctr) June 21, 2022
When its doors open the Visitor Centre will be the first within the national park system dedicated to LGBTQ+ history.
This follows The Stonewall Inn being designated a national monument in 2016 (the first U.S. national monument dedicated to LGBTQ history)
“The opening of the Stonewall National Monument Visitor Centre is a remarkable moment in the history of Stonewall,” said Ann Marie Gothard, board president of Pride Live.
“We honour all those who came before us, most especially the queer people fighting for equality at the Stonewall riots.”
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“On this spot, an energised group of people created a movement for equality that continues to this day,” Chuck Sams, the director of the National Park Service, said in a statement.
Sams also highlighted the importance of both celebrating and acknowledging the importance of LGBTQ+ history, deeming one of the Visitor Centre’s goals to provide people “a place where people can learn about and connect with the LGBTQ+ community’s ongoing struggle for civil liberties.”
In creating a safe and inclusive space for the LGBTQ community, the Stonewall National Monument Visitor Centre will memorialise the legacy of Stonewall so the next generation can truly understand the past and ongoing fight for LGBTQ+ rights in America.
The Visitor Centre is being funded with donations, and a ceremony is said to be taking place this Friday (24 June) to celebrate the announcement.
You can find out more about The Stonewall National Monument Visitor Centre here.
A groundbreaking ceremony will be live streamed on the Pride Live YouTube channel on Friday 24 June at 15:30PM.
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