History was made once again at the Stonewall Inn on Tuesday when New York City’s Landmarks Preservation Commission voted unanimously to designate the Greenwich Village bar as an historic city landmark — marking the first time a site has been added to the city’s register of historic places because of it significance in LGBT history.
“This building is a symbol of a time when LGBT New Yorkers took a stand and vowed that they would no longer live in the shadows,” said commission chair Meenakshi Srinivasan in a statement. “The events at Stonewall were a turning point in the LGBT-rights movement and in the history of our nation.”
The famous Christopher Street respite was already a part of the Greenwich Village Historic District and on the National Register of Historic Places, but speakers at the hearing before the vote expressed concerns developers could still destroy the building — insisting that the individual city-landmark designation was necessary to protect the building and its history.
“It must be protected against rapacious developers who would destroy the history of this sacred place and all it represents,” said Letitia James, the city’s public advocate.
The designation includes the current bar at 51 Christopher St., and the two adjoining two-story buildings which together formed one gay bar that opened in 1967.
Patrons rioted against a police raid at the Stonewall Inn on June 28, 1969. The riot, along with several days of protests that ensued, is credited with igniting the modern LGBT civil-rights movement.