(Photo Credits: Rhododendrites / CC BY-SA)
It’s been over three months since businesses (and most parts of the world, really) came to a screeching halt due to the strict quarantine procedures brought about by the coronavirus pandemic—a move that was done in order to stop the spread of COVID-19.
Unfortunately, a lot of businesses have shutdown permanently since then and a lot more will follow suit “over the next several months if the coronavirus pandemic persists,” according to this study, as reported by the CNBC.
One such business is the Stonewall Inn but they are not raising the white flag yet.
Stonewall Inn has launched a crowdfunding via GoFundMe to seek much-needed support from the LGBT community. This is actually their second fundraiser; the first one however, has raised just a little over a third of their $60,000 goal and the COVID-19 crisis is far from over.
In a statement posted in their website, Stonewall Inn’s management said, “We are reaching out because like many families and small businesses around the world, The Stonewall Inn is struggling.”
Further, their message reads:
“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 reopen, it will likely be under greatly restricted conditions limiting our business activities.”
As we all know, Stonewall Inn is the birthplace of pride. It is the birthplace of the modern day LGBTQ rights movement.
Its contribution and significance to the LGBT community is so great that in 2016, President Obama designated Stonewall Inn, including Christopher Park, as the site of the Stonewall National Monument—America’s first LGBT National Park site. Even way back in 1999, the buildings, as well as its surrounding area, have already been listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The following year it was also named a National Historic Landmark.
This year marks the 51st anniversary of Stonewall riots, guys, on June 28 to be precise. Stonewall Inn has changed hands several times over the years since 1969 but the current management promises to stand strong:
We resurrected the Stonewall Inn once after it had been shuttered- and we stand ready to do it again- with your help. We worked diligently to resurrect it as a safe space for the community and to keep the Stonewall Inn at the epicenter of the fight for the LGBTQ+ rights movement. It has been a community tavern, but also a vehicle to continue the fight that started there in 1969. Stonewall is the place the community gathers for celebrations, comes to grieve in times of tragedy, and rally to continue the fight for full global equality.
They added: “Today, we are asking you to help Save Stonewall!” Read their message in full here.
To help Stonewall Inn, click here.
Dave: The Stonewall is not a particularly popular bar in The West Village. It has it followers but it does not attract a youthful crowd…except the locals or, perhaps, on a Sunday. I was there about three years ago. The Stonewall of folklore was downstairs not upstairs; ergo, the upstairs benefits from the downstairs. What the owners of The Stonewall are doing is milking the historical value and contributions of what happened 50 years ago…on a Friday Night, after the Queens came back from Judy Garland’s wake at Campbell’s Funeral Home. They were in a nasty mood and the cops… Read more »
June 28th, 1969 was a Saturday.
I stand corrected. My apologies.
Definitely need to be saved and keep in open. Not only is it a gay icon, but also a part of history.
TEAR IT DOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It was a only place of white privilege and hate. Never was for Black or brown people.
Not from the history I’ve read. Perhaps and education is in order?
Oh Yeah, Nice To Name It After A Confederate General. Ask Yourself, Would He Support A Gay Cause If He Was Alive And Well? Come On Y’all Common Sense. It Should Be Named After Pete Buttigieg.
A little research shows that The Stonewall Inn has no connection to the US Civil War. It was named after its actual stone walls. We’ll wait and see how the anti-racist purists spin what should be done with the name, or perhaps even the structure itself, because its name has “racist connotations.”
Hunter0500:
N.Z.H. did not know that!
Kudos to you to enlightened the ignorant!
Another uneducated soul. Sorry young man but the name is in no way related to Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson. What is wrong with the education system in this country?
[…] all probably know this story by heart already: how, in the early morning of June 28, 1969—the Stonewall Inn was raided by the police. Stonewall Inn, which is located in the Greenwich Village in New York […]