New York Yankees to hold ‘significant events’ for 50th anniversary of Stonewall riots
NEW YORK, NY – AUGUST 09: Giancarlo Stanton #27 of the New York Yankees hits a fifth inning home run against the Texas Rangers during their game at Yankee Stadium on August 9, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)
American baseball team New York Yankees are reportedly planning to mark the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots with a series of “significant events” next season.
The iconic team had come under fire for being one of only two clubs in Major League Baseball (MLB) to not have held a LGBT+ Pride night this year.
However, the team is allegedly organising a number of events to remember the momentous riots in June 1969 at New York City’s Stonewall Inn, a gay bar, which many regard as the foundation of the modern LGBT+ rights movement, reports regional network SportsNet New York.
The New York Yankees will allegedly hold a number of events next season to commemorate 50 years since the Stonewall Riots. (Al Bello/Getty Images)
“According to major league sources, the Yankees have been quietly planning significant events for next season to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, a seminal event in both the history of LGBTQ rights and New York City,” writes the network’s MLB insider Andy Martino.
“While a Yankees spokesman said it was too early to confirm any specifics of the 2019 promotional calendar, other sources said that the team continues to work out details of Stonewall-centered events.
‘Specifics have not been finalized, but I hear that the final plan is likely to include activities both inside and outside the ballpark.”
The team had reportedly been working on the LGBT+ events before it was criticised for not hosting a Pride night, with Martino adding that the club has “focused on the Stonewall anniversary as a way to push the standard Pride Nights to a deeper level.”
The Stonewall riots are often regarded as the event leading to the gay liberation movement. (Creative Commons)
Stonewall Inn, in New York City’s Greenwich Village, played a key role in LGBT history as the location of a series of riots in June 1969 by members of the community in response to a police raid.
Led by prominent activists Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, who were gender non-conforming, the riots sparked an entire civil rights movement, and are the reason Pride Month is celebrated in June.
Some of the first Pride marches began on the anniversary of the riots in 1970, and in many countries Prides are still often known as Christopher Street Day Parades in honour of the pub’s location.
