Lorna Luft on How Late Mom Judy Garland Raised Her Children (Exclusive)

Legendary actress Judy Garland captivated Hollywood from a young age, and her life's story, performances and activism continue to resonate today. But to daughter Lorna Luft, who was only 16 when her mother passed away, she was just "mom."

The Messenger caught up with Luft at the Inaugural Stonewall Inn Brick Awards Gala, which took place on Monday in NYC and benefits The Stonewall Inn Gives Back Initiative (SIGBI).

At the gala, Luft opened up to The Messenger exclusively about how her mother raised her and her siblings Liza Minnelli and Joey Luft to "never, ever make anyone feel different than yourself. And that's because that's how she saw the world."

Garland was closely tied to the LGBTQ+ community through her fans and her death a week before the Stonewall Riots in 1969 cemented that tie, which Luft nurtures with her work as an advisor to SIGBI. Though Garland attracted a devout LGBTQ+ fanbase even while she was alive, Luft explained that it wasn't a time when most people were able to openly talk about being gay or exist out of the closet. "You have to remember what year it was," Luft said. "People were very closeted and no one was really out talking [about being LGBTQ+]."

Now, Luft worries that not enough young people know the history of the Stonewall Riots. "I was 16 in 1969 and I had lost a parent," she said, "so I didn't know about the riots until many years later." But after doing her research, Luft realized "we have to keep the story on track and educate a whole couple of generations of people who don't know about what happened and how Pride was born."

Though her work with SIGBI is close to her heart, Luft took a moment to reflect on one of many memories she loves with her late mother; her industry debut, on The Judy Garland Show in 1963, at just 11 years old.

"Being able to sing with her and being able to watch her work as not just my mom" was special, said Luft. Though she has private memories with her mother she cherishes more than this televised appearance sixty years ago, she's happy that people still enjoy the show. "A lot of people watch the show [at Christmas] and I think it's lovely," she said. "I'm very, very grateful."

Ultimately, Luft's favorite memories of her mother have little to do with show business. "She was everyone's icon and she was everyone's legend but she was my mom," said Luft. "I knew her in a totally different way than the rest of the world."

With reporting by Brody Brown