Cuomo Announces NYC Monument for Victims of Orlando Massacre

Gov. Cuomo said a commission of 10 people will pick an artist to design the monument that will be in Christopher Park, Hudson Park or Battery Park

A New York City monument will be erected in honor of the victims of the Orlando massacre, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced Sunday morning.

Speaking at the LGBT Community Center in Manhattan ahead of the city's gay pride parade, Cuomo said a commission of 10 people will pick an artist to design the monument, which will go up in Christopher Park, Hudson Park or Battery Park.

Cuomo said the state is pledging up to $1 million to create the monument. 

The committee, to be overseen by Cuomo's General Counsel Alphonso David, is expected to deliver recommendations by the end of 2016, according to a news release.

"This monument will stand as a reminder to both our allies and the LGBT community that our struggle against violence is far from over, but we will be carried to success by the spirits of those we lost to senseless violence," Kelsey Louie, chief executive of the Gay Men's Health Crisis, said in a statement.

Cuomo also announced that the site around the Stonewall Inn will be designated as a state historic site. On Friday, President Obama made Stonewall a national monument, the first for gay rights.

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