Media advisory: Professor can discuss Stonewall Inn as first possible gay rights monument

LAWRENCE — A University of Kansas researcher who has collaborated with the National Park Service on potential historical landmarks of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer movement is available to discuss the possibility that New York's Stonewall Inn could become a national monument.

National reports suggest that President Obama could make the decision final in the next month for Stonewall, the area surrounding the New York inn that was the site of violent riots linked to the gay rights movement.

Katie Batza, assistant professor in the Department of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, in 2014 was one of 16 scholars invited to participate in the national collaboration regarding the National Park Service's historic site project. The U.S. Department of Interior has made an effort to expand representation of minority groups in U.S. history and has been working on identifying historical sites of significance to LGBTQ.

Batza said dozens of sites have gained recognition and been added to historic landmark registries at the local, state and federal levels, but as of yet, no national monument speaks specifically to the contributions of LGBTQ individuals and groups to the larger American historical narrative.

Stonewall Inn was the site of a major and multiday protest against police brutality and harassment of lesbian and gay individuals that occurred in the final days of June in 1969. Though not the first protest of its kind, events now known as the Stonewall riots are often associated with the start of the gay liberation movement, she said.

"By making Stonewall a monument, President Obama will be formally acknowledging and protecting an important site of American history and ensuring that LGBTQ communities are included and represented in the national historical narrative and commemoration," Batza said.

To arrange an interview with Batza, contact George Diepenbrock at 785-864-8853 or gdiepenbrock@ku.edu.