#Stonewall Inn, struggling due to coronavirus pandemic, launches GoFundMe

By Daniel Kreps, Rolling Stone

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The Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village.
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Severely impacted by COVID-19, New York’s Stonewall Inn — the historic LGBTQ landmark and site of the Stonewall Riots in 1969 — has launched a fundraiser with the hopes of reopening post-pandemic.

The new GoFundMe ties together a pair of Stonewall-associated fundraisers — one to provide funds to the bar’s employees, and the other to lend financial support to the bar itself — with a new goal of $50,000, the Advocate reports. At press time, the campaign has raised more than $22,000.

“Our doors have been closed for over three months to ensure the health, safety and well-being of patrons, staff and the community. Even in the best of times, it can be difficult to survive as a small business and we now face an uncertain future. Even once we reopen, it will likely be under greatly restricted conditions limiting our business activities,” the Stonewall Inn’s management said on the GoFundMe site. “We resurrected the Stonewall Inn once after it had been shuttered — and we stand ready to do it again — with your help. We worked diligently to resurrect it as a safe space for the community and  to keep the Stonewall Inn at the epicenter of the fight for the LGBTQ rights movement.”

The Stonewall Inn was designated as the nation’s first LGBTQ historic landmark in 2016, but that distinction does not ensure the bar’s survival as a business.

On Tuesday, Pride Live announced a livestream for Stonewall Day, June 26, featuring former President Barack Obama delivering a message to the LGBTQ community, as well as Taylor Swift, Demi Lovato, Cynthia Erivo and Katy Perry and performances by Kesha and Hayley Kiyoko.