There aren’t a lot of bars anywhere in the world that have a visitor center. The Stonewall Inn in New York could seem like any other (gay) dive bar without it. On an October Thursday afternoon, patrons sipping drinks as “Bewitched” played soundlessly on screens throughout the room, made it easy to feel like you were in a small-town bar and not the home to a major flashpoint in the LGBTQ+ rights movement.
But visitors to New York shouldn’t miss a chance to pay homage to the fight for equality that in many ways took root in the city.
On June 28, 1969, a police raid at the Stonewall Inn kicked off a series of protests that ultimately turned into what’s now known as LGBTQ+ Pride Month.
President Barack Obama directed the National Park Service to designate a National Monument in the park across the street from the bar in 2016, and in 2024, a privately run visitor center opened in the building next door to the current bar. In 1969, the bar was larger, and the space currently occupied by the visitor center was part of Stonewall itself.
“Stonewall is about the fundamental right to live authentically and given the period of time currently, our current situation, Stonewall also represents that spirit of resistance and the demand for equality that still exists today,” Ann Marie Gothard, cofounder of the Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center told USA TODAY. “We need spaces that celebrate the past, but we also need spaces that help future generations understand where we’re going, why it’s important to use our voices to lift up others.”
