October is LGBTQ+ History Month, and amNewYork Metro sat down for an interview with Stonewall Inn owners Stacy Lentz and Kurt Kelly, who bought the historic LGBTQ+ venue in 2006 with business partners Bill Morgan and Tony DeCicco.
Over fifty years ago, when queer folks couldn’t come out because homosexuality was a criminal offense in the Land of the Free, the bar in Greenwich Village on Christopher Street provided a safe haven for LGBTQ+ people.
Establishments like the Stonewall Inn -owned by the Mafia, which didn’t care what went on at their property as long as they made a profit- were regularly raided by law enforcement.
On June 28, 1969, the NYPD once again raided the bar. However, this time, officers were met with resistance, the beginning of the Stonewall Uprising. The rebellion lasted six days, and the events marked the birth of the modern gay rights movement, catalyzing the fight for LGBTQ+ equality.
The Stonewall Inn is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a National Historic Landmark, and designated a New York City Landmark, a New York State Historic Site, and is the defining component of the Stonewall National Monument.
Kelly described the Stonewall Inn as a place to mourn and celebrate, with thousands filling the streets outside the bar to console each other after tragedies like the Pulse Nightclub shooting when a gunman killed 49 patrons of the gay club in 2016 or cheer on marriage equality in 2015.
Kelly recalled a cop looking over to him and congratulating Kelly on the milestone moment.
“He says, ‘Anything you need, you let us know,’” Kelly said. “So I walked back in, I’m like, ‘Wow, 50 years ago, they were throwing us in jail. And now they’re protecting us.’ An amazing moment.”
Lentz and Kelly say it’s essential to continue the history and legacy of the Stonewall Inn, particularly for young people, and to keep up the crusade for equality at a time when LGBTQ+ rights are under attack abroad…
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