The Stonewall pride flag will resume flying on federal grounds following a two-month legal saga, after the Trump administration reached a settlement with local advocacy groups on Monday.
A coalition of New York City-based advocacy groups — the Gilbert Baker Foundation, Village Preservation and Equality New York — sued the U.S. Department of the Interior and the National Park Service in February, arguing that they illegally targeted the LGBTQ+ community by removing the flag. In a January memo, the Trump administration had directed “non-agency” flags to be taken down in national parks, claiming it was abiding by longstanding federal policy.
The pride flag will be restored to the Stonewall National Monument within the next week, flying underneath the U.S. flag and above the Park Service one. Lawyers wrote that the Interior Department “confirmed their intention to maintain a pride flag at Stonewall,” and that it will not be removed except for “maintenance or other practical purposes.”.
“We fought the Trump administration — and we won,” Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal said in a press release. “The Trump administration has blinked and backed down from its contemptuous attempt to erase American history.”
Three days after the park’s largest flag was taken down, hundreds of protesters raised another pride flag at the monument, chanting “Raise our flag” and “We will not be erased.” Mayor Zohran Mamdani said the flag’s removal “outraged” him in an X post on Feb. 10.
The monument commemorates the 1969 Stonewall riots and became the first national park dedicated to LGBTQ+ history in 2016. The Gilbert Baker Foundation — a party in the lawsuit — is a nonprofit honoring Gilbert Baker, who designed the flag that flew over the Stonewall National Monument.
“Even though the Pride flag was returned to the Stonewall National Monument, the president’s mere attempt to erase a queer symbol represents an increasingly dangerous environment for LGBTQIA+ students at NYU and around the nation,” Adrian Pica-Borjas, senator for LGBTQ+ students of color, told WSN in a statement.
Contact Zachary Karp at [email protected].