Stonewall National Monument

Did you know that Stonewall National Monument is NOT the smallest site in the National Park Service? It's not even in the top 10!

That's because the Stonewall NM boundaries, highlighted in the picture above, include 7.7 acres of the Greenwich Village streets surrounding The Stonewall Inn. While the Stonewall Uprising started because of a police raid on The Stonewall Inn in 1969, it mainly took place on the streets nearby. Protesters used their knowledge of the confusing Greenwich Village neighborhood layout to evade & taunt police for hours, particularly on the first two nights of the Uprising that lasted from around 1 AM until 4 in the morning.

Bonus points if you can name the smallest NPS site in the comments!

During the federal government shutdown, this account will continue to share critical information about park access, safety, and resources. Some services may be limited. For more details, visit: doi.gov/shutdown

Join us in Christopher Park on Saturday August 9 for free tours of Stonewall National Monument alongside American Sign Language Interpreters! The Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center will be offering special programming during the day as well.

See you there!

A huge thank you to the Christopher Park Alliance for organizing and putting on the summer planting event in Christopher Park on May 18th! Volunteers, Park Alliance members and Stonewall Park Rangers worked together to prepare the National Monument gardens for Pride Month. Stop by Christopher Park to enjoy all the beautiful, colorful flowers!

Swipe for some before & after photos 🌷🌹🌼💐🌱

On March 29, we were able to take advantage of the beautiful NYC weather and host a community event in Christopher Park to celebrate Cesar Chavez Day!

With the help of some of Stonewall’s amazing volunteers, we set up and staffed 5 tables around the park featuring different activities, including composting demonstrations and decorating your own plant pot. Visitors also had the chance to learn more about Stonewall and gay history.

Thank you to all of our volunteers and visitors who participated!

Image/Graphic: NPS

"We have proven the American Dream lives, the Bell of Liberty rings, and it rings not just in America today, but it rings as a promise of liberty for all people, LGBT people included. We have the secret of how people can come together, talk together, work together, build together, create together, and achieve together, and have peace and a better world together! That's what this whole thing is about." --Randolfe Wicker, the Last Mattachino, Gay Militant, activist, icon, friend

While the Stonewall Uprising is often thought of as "the birthplace of Pride," q***r persistence and resistance prevails across history and around the world. During one such moment in 1964, Randy Wicker organized the first known public protest for LGBTQ+ civil rights. Dressed in a suit and tie then, today he favors louder colors and bolder clothes. Featuring heavily in his wardrobe is a sequined flag hat and other Americana. With this symbol he represents his patriotism as liberties that have been won through the continuous fight for equalities including employment, federal service, and marriage that have not always been granted to all.

Stonewall National Monument commemorates the dauntless efforts of everyday citizens who enacted seismic social change and called to action the next generation who carry the torch. People who shop at the grocery store, watch movies, take a vacation, tie their shoes, get paper cuts, go through stages of grief, and just want to live freely as themselves.

As rangers celebrate Randy's 87th birthday, we reflect on the astonishing honor of spending time with and handing flowers to the very individuals who stand up and out, planting roots in the name of justice. Cheers to many more!

https://www.nps.gov/subjects/tellingallamericansstories/lgbtqheritage.htm

"Our commitment to human rights must be absolute, our laws fair, our natural beauty preserved; the powerful must not persecute the weak, and human dignity must be enhanced." -Inaugural Address of 39th U.S. President Jimmy Carter

With the campaign slogan “A Leader, For A Change,” Carter served during the early years of political LGBTQ+ representation. In 1976, he surprised many by expressing support for the Equity Act, which sought to amend the 1964 Civil Rights Act to include banning discrimination based on sexual orientation. “I will certainly sign it," he confirmed, "because I don’t think it’s right to single out homosexuals for abuse or special harassment."

Only two months after inauguration, Carter's administration was the first to host LGBTQ+ civil rights activists at the White House to discuss issues impacting the community. Citing inequitable laws and discrimination in the workplace, this National Gay Task Force, as it was then called, also reported concerns about the outbreak of hepatitis. Federal funding for this disease would then contribute to addressing the HIV/AIDS crisis, which Carter publicly supported during his 2002 trip to Africa.

On this National Day of Mourning, Stonewall rangers join our colleagues at Jimmy Carter National Historical Park and across the National Park Service in remembrance:

https://www.nps.gov/jica/carterlanding.htm

Photo credits: 1. AFP via Getty Images (1976) 2. Roger Ressmeyer/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images (1977)

"Red reminds me, red reminds me, red reminds me… to be free.” --Stacy Jennings, an activist, poet, and long-term survivor with HIV

📍 On Sunday, December 1, the Stonewall National Monument and Visitor Center will commemorate World AIDS Day with free recurring activities from 10a-4p at 51 Christopher Street. See y'all there!

Each year this date empowers us to recognize how people are actively living with the disease, remember those who have passed, educate about preventative measures, and show solidarity against HIV stigma.

In addition, we reflect on the many medical advancements still in practice today such as Universal Precautions, rapid vaccine development for current pandemics like COVID-19, and the invaluable research thanks to activist groups like ACTUP who fought the federal government to provide funding.

❣️ Visitors can help create a panel for The NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt honoring Martin Antonio "Tony" Torres, the uncle of Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center and Pride Live co-founder, Diana Rodriguez.

First conceived in 1985 by Cleve Jones, the Quilt is now the largest community arts piece in history as a 54-ton tapestry including 50,000 panels dedicated to over 110,000 individuals.

Although this exhibition has been developed into an interactive experience online, we hope to see more public displays during significant American celebrations such as WorldPride Washington, D.C. 2025: Fabric of Freedom and Unfinished: America at 250.

🔺 View a Ranger program on repeat in the Booking.com Theater featuring interpretation about Cleve Jones and Gilbert Baker, creator of the Rainbow Flag.

Also available virtually: https://www.nps.gov/media/video/view.htm?id=2FE40E93-A62D-40ED-83DD-B86050FB3794

🔴 In classic protest fashion, design your own pins with us, pick up a free REBEL one for signing up to the Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center newsletter, and check out some vintage examples from original HIV/AIDS marches and events!

Photo: NPS/J.Burna (March 2022)

“I don’t need their permission to exist; I exist in spite of them. I want you to train and teach and love on and create families within my community and gender non-conforming people, so that we can understand that we have a culture, we have a history, we have a reason to be here. We have a purpose. We’re entitled to be loved, and seek happiness, and share that with the people that we care about.” -Miss Major Griffin-Gracy

Transgender Day of Remembrance is always an especially traumatic one as we reflect on the perpetual violence and discrimination inflicted on transgender people all over the world. While we mourn those who have walked before us, we also honor them through direct action and celebration of life. The streets and sidewalks that saw the 1969 Stonewall Uprising continue to be a meeting place for people to gather while making their voices heard in the fight for equal civil rights. Each year the LGBTQ+ community protests outside the Stonewall Inn, and now also Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center (2024), to condemn these attacks and call for change.

Photo: Protestors face the brick facade of 51-53 Christopher Street. One person wears a bright red coat and holds a large Pride flag bearing the word "PEACE." Next to him are people with jackets emblazoned with "G**s Against Guns" and "We honor and remember the 44,895 killed by gun violence in 2021." (J.Burna/NPS 2022)

https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Report_Memorializing-Transgender-Day-of-Remembrance_FINAL-002.pdf

Happy birthday to Marsha Pay it No Mind Johnson, who would have turned 79 years old today.
Marsha Johnson was a prominent activist for gay rights, she was outspoken, and a prominent figure in the Stonewall Uprising of 1969.

Assigned male at birth, Marsha found comfort in wearing traditionally feminine clothing, early in life, until boys bullied her, causing her to wear more traditional masculine clothes.

As an adult living in NYC, Marsha found her place in the city's Greenwich Village area and began performing in drag.
While some say Marsha threw the first "brick" at Stonewall, spurring the uprising, Marsha herself arrived after the fight back against the police harassment was already happening. However, there is no denying the role that Marsha had in helping to fight for LGBTQ rights, and the influence she still has 31 years after her death, to encourage young people everywhere to be safe, comfortable, and be their true selves.

Happy Birthday Marsha!

To learn more about Marsha and other trailblazers in the LGBTQ Community visit our friends at National Monument

Celebrate Pride year-round with the America's National Parks Stonewall collection, now found in the Park Store at Castle Clinton National Monument open every day from 8:30am - 4pm!

Photo credit Eastern National showcasing Stonewall National Monument books, magnets, pins, shirts, and other Passport To Your National Parks familiarities.