Fundraiser launched to save landmark Stonewall Inn from shutting down

NEW YORK - The landmark Stonewall Inn, where the LGBTQ rights movement is said to have begun in 1969, has launched a fundraiser to try and stay open post-COVID-19 pandemic.

“The Stonewall Inn faces an uncertain future and we are in need of community support. The road to recovery from the COVID 19 pandemic will be long and we need to continue to safeguard this vital piece of living history for the LGBTQ community and the global human rights movement and we now must ask for your help to save one of the LGBTQ+ communities most iconic institutions and to keep that history alive,” the bar’s management said on the GoFundMe page.

The bar was designated as the nation’s first LGBTQ historic landmark in 2016, decades after the Stonewall riots helped spark the fight for LGBTQ rights in the United States.

According to the Inn’s management, the bar has been closed for over three months, and even upon reopening would likely be operating under restrictions limiting their business, like many other bars and restaurants in New York City.

Pride flags and Black Lives Matter signs decorate The Stonewall Inn on June 20, 2020 in New York City. (Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images,)

As of this writing, the bar has raised $22,490 of their desired $50,000 goal.

“We resurrected the Stonewall Inn once after it had been shuttered- and we stand ready to do it again- with your help,” the GoFundMe said.

Another GoFundMe has also been begun to raise money for the staff of the Stonewall Inn who have been out of work since the bar closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.