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Commission Votes To Consider Making Stonewall Inn A City Landmark

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- The city's Landmarks Preservation Commission has voted to consider designating the Stonewall Inn a city landmark.

The commission voted unanimously Tuesday to add the property to its calendar.

Designation would grant recognition to a powerful symbol of the gay rights movement. The Greenwich Village tavern would be the first landmark honored specifically for its role in the city's gay history.

Commission Votes To Consider Making Stonewall Inn A City Landmark

A public hearing is set for June 23.

"I am thrilled that the Landmarks Preservation Commission is moving one step closer to making the Stonewall Inn a historic landmark," Public Advocate Letitia James said in a statement. "As the symbolic starting point of the LGBT rights movement, the Stonewall Inn represents what Selma represents for the civil rights movement and what Seneca Falls represents for the women's rights movement. The Stonewall Inn marks a pivotal moment in our nation's ongoing struggle against prejudice and injustice, and must be preserved for future generations to come."

The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation also hailed Tuesday's vote as a long overdue step in preserving an important piece of history.

A June 1969 police raid at the tavern became a formative moment in the gay rights movement. Patrons fought with officers, and several days of demonstrations followed.

"The Stonewall is an international icon that represents peace and freedom and justice for gay and lesbian people internationally around the world," David Ehrich of SaveStonewall.org told WCBS 880's Peter Haskell.

The Stonewall Inn has not been in continuous operation since the riots. In fact, the original bar went out of business in late 1969 – just months after the uprising – and the space was used variously as a bagel shop, a shoe store and a Chinese restaurant in the 1970s and '80s, according to published reports.

The western half of the building reopened as a bar called Stonewall in the early 1990s, and the entire building was put into use for a new Stonewall Inn in 2007.

The Stonewall Inn was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.

(TM and © Copyright 2015 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2015 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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