The First-Ever LGBTQ Visitor Center in the National Parks System Is Finally Here
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Before the Dyke March takes its first steps out of Bryant Park this Saturday and the NYC Pride Parade floats through lower Manhattan on Sunday, make sure not to miss the opening of the new Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center (SNMVC) this Friday, sitting just a door down from its iconic namesake bar.
The visitor center is a collaboration between Pride Live, a nonprofit dedicated to LGBTQIA advocacy and community-building, and the National Parks Service (NPS). The site is a place of many firsts: Stonewall made history as the original site of the Stonewall Riots of 1969 that catalyzed a new political movement for the queer community to stand against state violence and discrimination. The new visitor center, which opens tomorrow on June 28, provides direct access to the history of Stonewall as it’s never been seen before. Additionally, it makes history as the first queer visitor center within the National Parks System.
Earlier this week, Condé Nast Traveler got a preview of the SNMVC. Here’s what visitors can expect from the first-of-its-kind landmark.
What’s it like in the Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center?
The window display of the center presents a loud-and-clear statement of purpose written in purple neon light: “In the name of those who came before me, I pledge to be brave, to be true to myself, and to fight like hell for equality.”
The exhibitions inside the center demonstrate various manifestations of that pledge from the LGBTQIA community. To the immediate right of the entrance, there’s a piece by trans digital artist FEWOCiOUS titled How are you? The piece is a dynamic abstract painting with swaths of red, white, and blue paint and bright scrawls of words and affirmations like, “ALiVE” and “i FOUGHT.” Across from the contemporary painting hangs a touching dedication to Pride Live co-founder Diana Rodriguez’s uncle—Tony Torres, a Vietnam veteran who died due to complications from AIDS in 1989.
The SNMVC’s unique curation juxtaposes moments in queer culture which finally share a space to intersect and exist together. Experiencing all of these fresh combinations is far from a quiet and sobering walk. For instance, as I made my way down the History of Stonewall timeline, I couldn’t help but move in time with Diana Ross’s “No Matter What Sign You Are” coming from the period-faithful jukebox, its tracklist courtesy of Honey Dijon. The tokens visitors use to play the hits from Dione Warwick and Bowie are bespoke quarters with a hand raised in a peace sign on the face to commemorate the Stonewall rebellion.
Towards the back of the center, the jukebox tracks wind down and visitors can sit in on programming in the theater. The theater area is tasteful and minimalist with its two columns of black chairs and gallery-like white-walls. Golden shovels with sponsor names line the theater in their own lit displays—they truly run the gamut with names like JPMorgan Chase and Christina Aguilera side-by-side. When I was there, a Booking.com video hosted by queer travel influencer @raviroundtheworld was on loop. The video was a center-exclusive for Booking.com’s Travel Proud series, where Ravi toured the queer highlights of Pittsburgh, New Orleans, and San Francisco.
The theater’s future programming will include more Travel Proud productions and Pride Live’s own screenings that celebrate the stories of global queer cultures and communities. On the center’s collaboration with Booking.com, which made the theater possible, Ann Marie Gothard, the chairperson of Pride Live, tells Condé Nast Traveler, “This immersive experience will, we hope, inspire future generations to carry on the important work of achieving full equality.”
Booking.com’s partnership with the SNMVC is the latest success in their Travel Proud initiatives. Ongoing examples include leading inclusive hospitality training for over 70,000 properties and conducting research on queer travel with leading organizations like the International LGBTQ+ Travel Association (IGLTA). Booking.com’s CMO Arjan Dijk summarizes the motivation behind their efforts as part of the company ethos: “Everyone should be able to experience the world as themselves, always.”
The SNMVC is an intentional work-in-progress of reclaiming the original Stonewall property for the queer community in New York and beyond. I was impressed by how expansive the center felt and the captivating amount of detail given to honoring Stonewall as it was—one highlight I loved was the outline on the ground of where the original bar stood. The center also keeps a close eye on the future of the LGBTQIA community in the US—attention well-represented by a living tapestry from the Parsons School of Design, called The Community Weave. It collages memes, advertisements, headlines, and many other media forms to portray, “the complex and politicized aspects of queer history.” The Weave also invites visitors to, “physically leave a piece of themselves with the exhibit,” in various prompt journals.
Come to the Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center for an all-new look into queer history. Revisit for the vision of the future it continues to imagine.
Originally Appeared on Condé Nast Traveler
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