Iconic LGBTQ Landmark The Stonewall Inn Is in Danger of Closing for Good
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Amidst COVID-19 and the shutdown of restaurants, venues and small businesses all over the country, one of the LGBTQ community’s most historic and important landmarks is also in trouble. After being closed for three months, the Stonewall Inn — site of the 1969 uprising largely credited with launching the modern-day LGBTQ rights movement — is in danger of shutting down for good. Two Save Stonewall GoFundMe campaigns have been launched to keep the venue open and to support the Stonewall Inn’s staff.
Organizers of one of the Save Stonewall GoFundMe campaigns writes:
We are reaching out because like many families and small businesses around the world, The Stonewall Inn is struggling. Our doors have been closed for over three months to ensure the health, safety and well-being of patrons, staff and the community. Even in the best of times it can be difficult to survive as a small business and we now face an uncertain future. Even once we re-open, it will likely be under greatly restricted conditions limiting our business activities.
As you may be aware, The Stonewall Inn is the first national gay historic landmark and the birthplace of the modern day LGBTQ rights movement. We celebrate and pay homage to those individuals who first stood up for gay rights and sparked the Stonewall Riots. Those brave souls who first stood up for their rights and the rights of others, triggered a global movement that continues to be celebrated world-wide via gay pride celebrations and parades.
New York City without the Stonewall Inn is both unthinkable and heartbreaking.
For many of us baby queers who moved to New York for college from small towns, it was our first gay bar — the site of so much history, love and resistance that it made our hearts grow. I can’t imagine a world without this incredible landmark, and I don’t want to.
You can donate to the save Stonewall GoFundMe here. You can donate to Stonewall’s staff here.
Featured image of the Stonewall Inn at top by Ben Hider / Getty Images
