Cuomo: Monument To Be Built In NYC For Victims Of Orlando Massacre
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Gov. Andrew Cuomo said New York state will pledge up to $1 million for the creation of a monument in New York City dedicated to "the victims of Orlando and the victims of hate crimes everywhere."
The governor announced the LGBT Memorial Commission Sunday morning ahead of the city's gay pride parade.
When we heard about Orlando, it touched each and every one of us. It went to the core of us. It was everyone's brother and sister.
— Archive: Governor Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) June 26, 2016
Today we're appointing a commission to build a monument in honor of the victims of Orlando and hate crimes everywhere.
— Archive: Governor Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) June 26, 2016
"We want this terrible event remembered and we want the lesson learned so it never happens again," Cuomo said.
He said the commission of 10 people will pick an artist, a design for the monument and its location by the end of the year.
Cuomo said possible locations include Christopher Park, Hudson River Park or Battery Park City "in the gaze of the Statue of Liberty."
He also announced that the Stonewall Inn would be designated as a state historic site after President Barack Obama designated it as the first national monument to gay rights on Friday.
A police raid on the bar in 1969 helped catalyze the gay rights movement. Cuomo sees the Orlando massacre as a modern-day Stonewall, WCBS 880's Peter Haskell reported.
"It has opened the eyes of this world to the injustice that is still done to the LGBT community," he said.
The shooting at the Pulse nightclub left 49 victims dead and dozens more hurt in what became the worst mass shooting in U.S. history.