NEW YORK -- On Thursday, the Yankees announced an expansion of their preexisting community partnership with Pride Live (pridelive.org), with the team becoming a founding supporter of the Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center (SNMVC), which breaks ground Friday morning.

“The Yankees are invested in the community -- all communities, which is really important,” said Pride Live founder and president Diana Rodriguez. “I think one of the signature things about the Yankees is that when they do something, they go all in.”

Pride Live, which is a social advocacy and community engagement organization for the LGBTQ+ community, will open the SNMVC in the summer of 2024 at 51 Christopher Street, between Waverly Place and Seventh Avenue South in Manhattan, adjacent to The Stonewall Inn.

The center will be the first LGBTQ+ visitor center within the National Parks Service and will offer an immersive experience welcoming all people to explore and experience LGBTQ+ history and culture through in-person and virtual tours, lecture series, exhibitions, and visual arts displ­­ays -- all on the site of the Stonewall Rebellion of 1969, which gave rise to the modern LGBTQ+ movement.

“It’s a safe space,” Rodriguez said about the new center. “It’s reuniting the Stonewall Inn, and it’s welcoming to everyone, whether you are supportive of the community or not. ... Just come and really be a part of something that is very special in the community.”

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman is pleased that the Steinbrenner family is using the Yankees platform to create the partnership with Pride Live and other people and organizations such as the New York Department of Education and Kurt Kelly, owner of the Stonewall Inn.

“It’s about inclusion,” Cashman said. “It’s about putting steps out there that we all clearly still need to take to build a better, safer environment for all of us. The Yankees want to stand for inclusion. They want to project that and promote it and, hopefully, people can pay attention to the amazing things that the Stonewall Inn stood for and does stand for to this day.”

Representatives involved with the creation of SNMVC were honored at Yankee Stadium during pregame ceremonies on Thursday, as the Yankees celebrate New York’s Legacy of Pride and also recognize the fourth annual Yankees-Stonewall Scholars.

Rodriguez, a die-hard Yankees fan, threw out the ceremonial first pitch and acknowledged that she was nervous, but she threw a strike to home plate.

“It’s Yankee Stadium. It’s the first pitch. I’m a huge Yankees fan, but I've never been on the field. I’m excited to do it,” she said.