New York City

The ‘Struggle's Not Over,' Says NYC's Stonewall Inn Co-Owner

In 2006, co-owner Stacy Lentz invested in and helped reopen the Stonewall Inn, a symbol of the LGBTQ rights move

Although Stacy Lentz is only 49 years old, she has become a champion for the iconic symbol of a historical movement that started nearly a year before she was born.

When Lentz,“fresh off the boat from a cornfield in Kansas,” walked into her first lesbian bar in 1994, she had no idea "that LGBTQ people actually kind of existed in my world,” let alone that she would later co-own New York City's Stonewall Inn.

The historic bar was the site of the 1969 Stonewall uprising, where LGBTQ residents protested against the police raids that often stifled their freedom of expression. 

Lentz was among 50 upcoming change-makers and historical figures in the LGBTQ rights movement that NBC News featured in honor of the 50th Anniversary of the Stonewall Inn riots. 

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