June 24th

June 24, 2016 – Today President Obama designated the area around the Stonewall Inn in New York City as the country’s first national monument to LGBT rights. Obama said, “I believe our national parks should reflect the full story of our country– the richness and diversity and uniquely American spirit that has always defined us, that we are stronger together. That out of many, we are one.” The White House said the monument would encompass Christopher Park, the Stonewall Inn and the surrounding streets and sidewalks that were the sites of the 1969 Stonewall uprising.

06-24-2011 New York becomes the 6th state (+ Washington DC) to legalize gay marriage.

06-24-2016 Erin O’Flaherty becomes Miss Missouri. She is the first openly gay woman to win a state pageant and will be competing in the Miss America Contest. “I’m excited to represent the LGBT community,” she said on Good Morning America. Her platform is suicide prevention, in which she’ll be promoting the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and working closely with The Trevor Project, which is the nation’s leading crisis intervention and suicide prevention hotline for LGBT youth. “My message to all young people out there who have a dream but maybe a little scared is that no matter what obstacles are in your way,” she explained, “it does get better.”