Kamala Harris urged Americans to continue to battle for equality in the face of fresh waves of anti-LGBTQ+ action and rhetoric by conservatives, as she made a surprise visit to the historic Stonewall Inn in New York City on Monday.
The US vice-president celebrated the bar’s place in gay rights history while warning that many queer Americans are living “in fear” as rightwing legislatures pass draconian anti-LGBTQ+ laws and Republican leaders step up hostile rhetoric and conspiracy theories, particularly aimed at transgender and non-binary people.
Harris dropped in at Stonewall to mark Pride month and 54 years since the bar was the epicenter of riots sparked by patrons resisting police harassment and extortion that transformed into demonstrations and marches, ushering in the modern LGBTQ+ protest and celebration movement.
The fight for equal rights in the US was not over, Harris said, noting that the bar in the Greenwich Village neighborhood represented an inflection point in history – “a moment that is about equality and a movement that is about freedom”, while adding: “No one should be made to fight.”
Pride flags outside the Stonewall, probably the most famous gay bar in the world, have been ripped down and damaged by vandals three times so far this month.
“There are over 600 bills that are being proposed, anti-LGBTQ bills,” Harris said, calling such moves a “failed policy approach” and adding: “People are afraid to be themselves – these are fundamental issues that point to the need for us to all be vigilant, to stand together.”
Trans and lesbian patrons are believed to have started the initial riot at Stonewall in June 1969 during an all-too-common police raid at the bar, for which the New York police department apologized in 2019 during events to mark the 50th anniversary of that burst of resistance.
Harris noted that she “was honored to perform some of the first same-sex marriages in our country back in 2004” and said of the latest homophobic push from the right: “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.”
The Stonewall Inn became a national historic landmark in 2000 and, in 2016, it became a US national monument under then president Barack Obama.
