Stonewall Inn in New York City is now a national monument — a historic first for the LGBT community. President Obama made the announcement Friday.
"I believe our national parks should reflect the full story of our country: the richness and diversity," President Barack Obama said.
Stonewall opened as a gay bar in the 1960s but was subject to multiple police raids, which ignited the Stonewall riots in 1969.
"We were being brutalized, we were being murdered, we were being ostracized in a sense. Stonewall was a safe haven for LGBT people," activist Octavia Lewis said.
Activists say those clashes sparked the modern gay rights movement.
The move to make Stonewall a national monument is another push by the Obama administration for gay rights and comes at a time when many eyes are on the LGBT community after the deadly shooting at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando.
This video includes clips from the White House, New York Public Library / CC BY SA 3.0 and First Run Features / "Stonewall Uprising" and images from Getty Images.
