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President Franklin D. Roosevelt's great-granddaughter plans to celebrate the legacy of her family and the LGBTQ community by transforming the concrete and gray steps of Roosevelt Island's Four Freedoms Park into one that defines " the biggest LGBTQ pride flag of New York City. "
"It seemed natural that the park would honor the LGBTQ community in this visible way," said Julia Ireland, also a board member of the Four Freedoms Park Conservatory, at NBC News.
The 12-foot-by-100-foot staircase will be decorated in rainbow colors from June 14 to 30 and will be officially unveiled at an event called "Ascend With Pride". This event coincides with World Pride, to be held in New York City for the first time in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising.
The Four Freedoms Park, inaugurated in 2012, commemorates January 6, 1941 the eighth state of the Roosevelt Union, during which he defined four "essential freedoms" – freedom of speech and expression, freedom of worship, and the freedom of fear.
"I am inspired by the pioneering thinking of the four freedoms in 1941, and would like to think that if my great-grandparents were living today, they would include the rights of LGBTQ + among those for whom they had pleaded and fought, "said Ireland.
After Roosevelt's death, his wife, Eleanor, referred to his speech to advocate for the adoption of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights in 1948.
"Part of the park's mission in celebrating the four freedoms is to educate and inspire current and future generations to define these freedoms themselves," said Ireland. "The pride flag will serve as a symbol of support and reminder of the need for the human rights for which my family has worked."
The "Ascend With Pride" celebration will also include an hour of Drag Queens storytelling and events with VideoOut, an organization that records people sharing their upcoming stories. About 4.5 million people are expected to travel to New York in June for Pride Month celebrations.
"I am delighted to align with World Pride in New York and show solidarity with the LGBTQ + movement," said Ireland.
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