Public meeting on plan to create national monument for gay rights at Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village

WASHINGTON -- The federal government is taking another step towards building a national monument to the gay rights movement at the Stonewall Inn.

A public meeting will be held Monday night in Greenwich Village, where officials will hear from people who took part in the historic riots that sparked the modern gay rights movement.

The hearing is to gather feedback on a proposal to create a monument in a small park across the street from the Stonewall Inn.

The proposal could be approved as early as next month.

The tavern was the site of a 1969 uprising widely viewed as the start of the gay rights movement.

The Interior Department says Interior Secretary Sally Jewell and the head of the National Park Service will travel to New York for the meeting.