UPDATE: Stonewall Pride Flag to Remain

In February, Blaque/OUT Magazine reported the removal of the Pride flag that flew outside of the historic Stonewall Inn in New York City. The Trump Administration removed the flag quietly but subsequently there were protests and outrage from community members and allies. At one such protest, community leaders joined to raise the flag in defiance.

However, the Pride flag will once again be displayed at New York's Stonewall monument after the Trump administration settled a lawsuit brought on by LGBTQIA+ advocacy orgs over its removal. Although there were uprising all over the country, the 1969 Stonewall riot sparked the accepted beginning of the LGBTQ rights movement and the week long protest was the inspiration for what we now know as Pride and Pride parades all around the world. The flag and monument in question stands directly across from the Stonewall Inn where a police raid on a gay bar sparked the riot and started it all.

The National Park Service, removed the flag to comply with a Department of the Interior mandate that stated “federal flagpoles in park-run sites must only display designated flags unless the flags provide historical context.”

A coalition of advocacy organizations filed a suit against the administration and the removal leading to the Trump administration's agreement to reinstall the flag as was announced in court settlement papers on Monday.

Under the settlement, which still must be approved by a judge, the Trump administration agreed to return the rainbow flag to the monument's official flagpole within seven days and maintain it at the site permanently. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani called the return "a victory for the LGBTQ+ community and for our entire city….It's a reminder that New Yorkers won't let our history be rewritten.”