Yankees to Celebrate New York’s Legacy of Pride and 50th Anniversary of the Stonewall Inn Uprising on Tuesday, June 25, at Yankee Stadium

The New York Yankees today announced details regarding a celebration of New York’s legacy of pride and the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Inn Uprising, which will take place on Tuesday, June 25, at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees will also shine a spotlight that evening on the Yankees-Stonewall Scholars Initiative.

The scholarship initiative commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Inn Uprising and celebrates the achievements of New York City Public School graduating seniors who have demonstrated academic achievement, a commitment to equality and impactful support for the LGBTQ community. Beginning this year, $50,000 worth of scholarships through five $10,000 college scholarships will be presented to one student from each of the five boroughs of New York City. The scholarships — which will be awarded to new graduating seniors on an annual basis — will allow the scholars the resources to launch their educational and career goals. The nomination process was initiated by the New York City Department of Education with each public high school able to submit one graduating senior for consideration.

As part of the festivities, the recipients of the 2019 Yankees-Stonewall scholarships (Francheska Colon of the Bronx, Ashley Farrell of Staten Island, Hugh Goldstein of Queens, Alex Rosado of Manhattan, and an anonymous student from Brooklyn) will be recognized at Yankee Stadium. They were first publicly introduced on Wednesday, May 22, at an announcement at The Stonewall Inn featuring representation from the Yankees, The Stonewall Inn, the New York City Department of Education and the Mayor’s Office.

The evening’s commemorations will also recognize the impact and contributions of the greater LGBTQ community and call attention to both the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising and WorldPride 2019, which is taking place in New York this month.

Ceremonies on June 25 will begin at approximately 6:30 p.m. prior to the Yankees’ 7:05 p.m. game vs. the Toronto Blue Jays. Those coming in support of the evening include New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson; Pride Live Founder Diana Rodriguez; Stonewall Inn Co-Owner and Stonewall Inn Gives Back Initiative CEO Stacy Lentz; Stonewall Inn Co-Owner Kurt Kelly; Chancellor of the New York City Department of Education Richard Carranza; F.D.N.Y. Chaplain Ann Kansfield; NYC Pride Co-Chair Maryanne Roberto Fine; and witness to the Stonewall Inn riots Tree Sequoia. Yankees representation will include Senior Vice President of Corporate/Community Relations Brian Smith, Senior Vice President and General Manager Brian Cashman and Senior Vice President and Assistant General Manager Jean Afterman.

Members of the N.Y.P.D. Gay Officers Action League (GOAL), which addresses the needs, issues, and concerns of gay and lesbian law enforcement personnel, will provide an honor guard.

The evening’s national anthem will be sung by Adam Bastien & Jerome Bell of the musical duo OneUp, who were recently featured on the fall 2018 season of The Voice. The seventh-inning rendition of “God Bless America” will be sung by N.Y.P.D. Officer Makiah Brown.

Enjoying the game from the Judge’s Chambers will be youth members and staff representatives from the Hetrick-Martin Institute, which is the nation’s oldest and largest organization helping gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth to reach their full potential. In 2014, Billy Bean, then-MLB Ambassador for Inclusion and current Vice President and Special Assistant to Commissioner Rob Manfred, was joined by Cashman and Afterman on an outreach visit to Harvey Milk High School (at the Hetrick-Martin Institute) which serves predominantly LGBTQ high school students.

Joining Manager Aaron Boone in bringing out the lineup cards for the evening will be Jared Fox, LGBTQ Community Liaison at the New York City Department of Education.

Fans can take note of the evening’s specially jeweled LGBTQ/Stonewall-themed bases, which will be auctioned off for charity.