GO Was There: Kamala Harris Visited The Stonewall Inn

On Monday, Kamala Harris touched down in NYC to visit The Stonewall Inn and the National Stonewall Monument to honor LGBTQIA+ pioneers during Pride month. She was greeted by Shirley McKinney, Manhattan Sites Superintendent and for the National Park Service, who provided a briefing and tour of the National Monument, and a handful of lucky media platforms, including GO Magazine!

“This place represents a real inflection moment in this movement, which is a movement that is about equality, that is about freedom, a movement that is about safety,” Harris told reporters as she walked up to Stonewall. “I’m here because I also understand not only what we should celebrate, in terms of those fighters that fought for fundamental freedoms, but understanding that this fight is not over.”

Upon arrival at The Stonewall Inn, Harris was welcomed by TV host Andy Cohen and Stonewall Inn co-owner Kurt Kelly. She greeted bar patrons and talked about the importance of honoring and celebrating the contributions of LGBTQI+ Americans throughout history, what Stonewall represents in terms of the long movement towards full equality for LGBTQI+ Americans, and made clear the Biden-Harris Administration’s steadfast support of LGBTQI+ people and families.

“We are not going to be overwhelmed, we’re not going to be silenced, we’re not going to be deterred, we are not going to tire … We’re going to roll up our sleeves. That, to me, [is] what Stonewall means – strength in numbers,” she stated.

Stonewall was first recognized as a National Monument in 2000, but in 2016, Obama established the Stonewall National Monument, the first U.S. national monument dedicated to LGBTQ+ rights. The national monument includes Christopher Park and the surrounding streets where the uprising occurred.

Harris’s visit was just a few days before the 54th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots that sparked the Pride movement.

“We can take nothing for granted in terms of the progress we achieve,” Harris told Stonewall patrons. “We have to be vigilant. That is the nature of our fight for equality.”