STONEWALL GAINS FEDERAL RECOGNITION ON ITS 30TH ANNIVERSARY:
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First Gay/Lesbian Site to be Listed on National Register of Historic
Places
On Monday, June 21st, in New York City's Greenwich Village, Assistant
Secretary of the Interior John Berry announced the addition of the site of the
Stonewall Uprising to the National Register of Historic Places. This is the
first site listed on the National Register for its association with gay and
lesbian history. The announcement was made in a special ceremony to kick off
this year's Gay Pride celebrations, held each year to commemorate the
anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising.
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The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation and the Organization
of Lesbian and Gay Architects and Designers sponsored the national register
application. Architectural historian Andrew Dolkart was the primary author of
the report. David Carter, a historian currently writing an in-depth history of
the Uprising for St. Martin's Press was the primary researcher. The Jeffrey B.
Soref Fund of Stonewall Community Foundation provided financial support for the
initiative.
Thirty years ago this month, early in the morning of Saturday, June 28,
1969, the modern gay and lesbian civil rights movement was born -- as gay men
and women resisted a routine police raid on the Stonewall Inn, located at 51-53
Christopher Street in Greenwich Village. The raid set off six days and nights
of rioting, street demonstrations, and protests as thousands of gay people took
to the streets in Greenwich Village to demand an end to police harassment. The
rebellion at Stonewall is regarded as the single most enduring event in the
history of the gay and lesbian civil rights movement. This insurrection gave
birth to the gay liberation phase of the lesbian and gay rights movement,
transforming the struggle for homosexual equality from a small group of
activists into a mass movement, making possible a rapid series of political
successes.
The Stonewall nomination (which included the Stonewall Inn, Christopher
Park and the surrounding neighborhood Streets) was unanimously approved by the
New York State Board of Historic Preservation on March 24th, adding the site to
the New York State Register of Historic Places. On May 27th the Keeper of the
Register listed Stonewall on the National Register of Historic Places. The
designation received numerous letters of support from organizations and
individuals including U.S. Senator Charles Schumer, U.S. Congressman Jerrold
Nadler, State Senator Eric Schneiderman, State Assemblymember Deborah Glick,
State Senator Thomas Duane, NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission Chair
Jennifer Raab, New York City Councilmember Christine Quinn and historians
Martin Duberman, Fred Wasserman and George Chauncey.
According to Kimberly Stahlman Kearns, Executive Director of the Greenwich
Village Society for Historic Preservation, "The listing of Stonewall on
the National Register is a major milestone for the American Historic
Preservation movement. It signals a commitment to a more inclusive approach to
historic preservation that goes beyond recognizing architectural monuments to
also honor the rich and diverse cultural heritage of the American population.
For the first time, this includes the heritage of gay and lesbian
Americans." Established by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966,
the National Register of Historic Places is the federal government's official
list of the nation's most important historic properties. There are currently
over 70,000 sites on the National Register.
revised June 26 1999
by David Goldfarb