On Monday, the Trump administration announced it would permit the rainbow pride flag to be displayed on federal property at the Stonewall National Monument in New York City. This decision comes in response to a federal lawsuit filed by a coalition of LGBTQ+ advocacy organizations challenging the National Park Service’s (NPS) earlier decision to remove the flag.<\/p>\n
The Department of the Interior, which oversees the NPS, reached this agreement as part of a settlement related to the lawsuit initiated on February 17 by the Gilbert Baker Foundation, Village Preservation, and Equality New York.<\/p>\n
Established as the first federal monument honoring LGBTQ+ rights in 2016, the site saw the pride flag installed permanently during the Biden administration in 2021, only to be taken down by the NPS earlier this February.<\/p>\n
This action sparked significant backlash from local lawmakers, community leaders, and LGBTQ+ advocates, who gathered at the monument on February 12 to raise their own pride flag in place of the one that had been removed. As the legal proceedings progressed, the NPS chose not to take down the flag that had been put up by advocates.<\/p>\n
According to documents filed in court, the NPS has agreed that the pride flag will now be flown alongside the American flag and the NPS flag at the monument.<\/p>\n
The Gilbert Baker Foundation, named after the artist who designed the pride flag in 1978, expressed its satisfaction with the resolution of the lawsuit and the government’s commitment to flying the flag at the site.<\/p>\n
Charles Beal, president of the Gilbert Baker Foundation, released a statement emphasizing the significance of the rainbow flag. “The Rainbow Flag is more than a symbol \u2014 it stands as a universal sign of hope, visibility, and the ongoing fight for equality,” he stated. “Its presence at Stonewall, recognized as the origin of the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement, is crucial both historically and culturally. The restoration of the flag reaffirms our history and the validity of our ongoing quest for dignity and inclusion.”<\/p>\n
ABC News reached out to the Interior Department and the NPS for their comments on this development.<\/p>\n
The NPS communications office confirmed the flag’s removal in a statement to ABC News earlier in February, noting that federal guidelines stipulate that “only the U.S. flag and other flags authorized by Congress or the department are displayed on NPS-managed flagpoles, with limited exceptions.” The statement also mentioned, “Any alterations to flag displays are made to maintain alignment with this guidance. The Stonewall National Monument continues to preserve and interpret the site’s historical significance through various exhibits and programs.”<\/p>\n
Located near the Stonewall Inn, a historic gay bar that served as a refuge for many in the LGBTQ+ community during the 1960s, the monument is significant in American history. The inn was the site of a police raid in 1969 that sparked riots known as the Stonewall Uprising, an event widely regarded as the catalyst for the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement. In 2019, the NYPD publicly apologized for the raid.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On Monday, the Trump administration announced it would permit the rainbow pride flag to be displayed on federal property at the Stonewall National Monument in New York City. This decision comes in response to a federal lawsuit filed by a coalition of LGBTQ+ advocacy organizations challenging the National Park Service’s (NPS) earlier decision to remove […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8987,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[86,41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us-us","category-usa"],"yoast_head":"\n