Thumbnail image via Flickr user David Jones
On Friday, the White House announced that New York City's Stonewall Inn—the site of 1969's Stonewall riots and birthplace of the modern LGBTQ movement—will be declared a new national monument.
Wall Street Journal reports that the bar will just be a part of the newly named Stonewall National Monument, covering 7.7 acres of Greenwich Village in downtown Manhattan. Along with the legendary gay bar, the monument will include surrounding sites where the riots took place, like Christopher Park.
"The designation will create the first official National Park Service unit dedicated to telling the story of LGBT Americans, just days before the one year anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court decision guaranteeing marriage equality in all 50 states," the White House said in a statement.
The Stonewall Uprising erupted in June of 1969 after NYPD officers raided the bar for selling alcohol to homosexuals, which was illegal at the time. Bar patrons resisted police, and the resulting riot became a pivotal moment in the fight for LGBTQ rights.
"Raids like these were nothing new, but this time the patrons had had enough," Obama said in an announcement video. "So they stood up and spoke out. The riots became protests. The protests became a movement. The movement ultimately became an integral part of America."
Read: Photos of Love and Hope from the Stonewall Vigil for Orlando Victims
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