In 2016 President Barack Obama declared Christopher Park, a small fenced-in triangle with benches and some greenery in the heart of the West Village, a national park and on it the first national monument dedicated to LGBTIQ+ history. It's well worth stopping here to reflect on the Stonewall uprising of 1969, when LGBTIQ+ citizens fought back against discriminatory policing of their communities – many consider the event the birth of the modern LGBTIQ+ rights movement in the US.
There's little ostentatious memorializing here, save a few plaques and two sets of slender white statues: a male couple and a female couple, holding hands and talking. Known as Gay Liberation, they are a tribute to the normalcy of gay life. Plenty of pilgrims give the monument the gravity it merits.
