New York

Public Hearing Set for Stonewall Inn Monument Proposal

President Obama is expected to sign an order designating the iconic

New York's iconic Stonewall Inn, where the modern gay rights movement took root, is set to take its first step to becoming a national monument Monday night.

A public comment hearing for the proposal to turn the Greenwich Village site into a National Monument -- a designation reserved for sites like the Statue of Liberty, Castle Clinton and Mount St. Helens -- are scheduled for Monday evening at P.S. 41. President Barack Obama is expected to approve the proposal to make the bar the nation's first monument honoring the history of gays and lesbians.

Interior secretary Sally Jewell and National Park Service Director Jon Jarvis were both expected to attend the open meeting about proposals to "protect Christopher Park for future generations."

The designation will cover a small swath of land on Christopher Street but is a major act of recognition for gay rights advocates and their struggles over the last half-century. Since the 1969 uprising in Greenwich Village, the U.S. has enacted anti-discrimination protections, allowed gays and lesbians to serve openly in the U.S. military and legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.

Next month marks Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month in the U.S., and officials say the hope is to have the tavern -- already a city landmark on the registry of National Historic Landmarks -- a monument by then. 

Before the meeting Monday, several residents and tourists were supportive of the possible designation. Paula Leeflang, visiting from the Netherlands, called it "quite historic," while Greenwich Village resident said it was a recognition of "the plight" of the LGBT community.

"This is an important time in our history," he said. 

The gritty tavern, known colloquially as the Stonewall, became a catalyst for the gay rights movement after police raided it on June 28, 1969. Bar-goers fought back, and many more joined in street protests over the following days in an uprising widely credited as the start of large-scale gay activism in New York and around the word. Annual pride parades in hundreds of cities commemorate the rebellion.

The White House declined to comment last week. Yet Obama has paid tribute to the site before, most notably in his second inaugural address in 2013. In what's believed to be the first reference to gay rights in an inaugural address, Obama said the principle of equality still guides the U.S. "just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall."

Proposals the Obama administration is considering include Christopher Park, a small public area on the street where the Stonewall is located, as well as the surrounding vicinity. At 51 Christopher St., where two adjoining buildings once housed the gay bar, the building where the current Stonewall Inn operates is still a popular gay gathering place. Originally built as stables in the 1840s, the structures still have the brick-and-stucco facade that greeted bar-goers in 1969.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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