President Barack Obama today designated Stonewall as a national monument, the first to honor LGBT rights.
The monument’s boundary encompasses more than 7.5 acres of land, including Christopher Park, the Stonewall Inn and the surrounding streets and sidewalks that were the site of the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village.
“I believe our national parks should reflect the full story of our country,” Obama said in a video announcing the designation, “the richness and diversity and uniquely American spirit that has always defined us, that we are stronger together, that out of many we are one.”
Obama also referenced Stonewall in his 2013 inaugural address in his affirmation “that the most evident of all truths” is that all people are created equal.
“It is now our generation’s task to carry on what those pioneers began,” he said in his address.
The Stonewall monument designation comes days before the one-year anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court case that ruled marriage equality as a constitutional right. It’s also the start of Pride weekend in New York City.
With the National Park Foundation and the Outdoor Advertising Association of America, the White House is releasing a video in celebration of the monument designation. It will play Saturday at noon on the billboards in Times Square. The Pride parade takes place Sunday.
The monument recognizes the June 28, 1969, riots at the Stonewall Inn as LGBT people fought against oppression from the New York City Police Department. It’s seen as one of the moments that propelled the gay-rights movement in the United States.