Activist Michael Petrelis, who played an integral role in bringing a Rainbow Flag to the Stonewall National Monument, has launched a campaign calling on community members to set up cameras around Christopher Park to catch the feds in the act if they dare to remove the flag yet again.
The campaign to monitor the flagpole at the Stonewall National Monument follows the Trump administration’s sudden removal of the Rainbow Flag at the Stonewall National Monument, which was first reported by Gay City News on Feb. 9. The National Park Service, which is part of the Department of the Interior, told Gay City News at the time that the flag was removed to align with guidance dictating that “only the US flag and other congressionally or departmentally authorized flags” can be flown on National Park Service-led flagpoles.
“I wish we had a camera last Monday when you first reported the flag had been removed,” Petrelis, a New Jersey native who lives in San Francisco, told Gay City News in a phone interview on Feb. 20.
In response to the campaign, The Monster, a queer bar near Christopher Park at 80 Grove St., confirmed to Gay City News on Feb. 20 that one of the bar’s existing cameras was slightly repositioned to capture more of the Stonewall National Monument, which is what the bar tends to do during Pride Month when there is greater activity in the area. Petrelis published a Facebook post that included a video clip of what he said was footage from The Monster’s camera.
“If there is a nightmare scenario of the rangers showing up and removing the flagpole, we will have it on video thanks to The Monster,” Petrelis said.
Petrelis is a longtime LGBTQ activist who has participated in historic demonstrations such as the 1989 Stop the Church protest at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, where ACT UP and the Women’s Health Action Mobilization (WHAM!) disrupted Mass in response to the Catholic Church’s policies on LGBTQ people, abortion, and HIV/AIDS.
The flag’s removal came four years after Petrelis and Steven Love Menendez, a caretaker of the Rainbow Flags at the park, successfully worked with the Biden administration to raise the flag at the permanent flagpole in 2022 — a long-overdue development after the first Trump administration initially nixed a flag-raising ceremony at the site.
Petrelis has launched a GoFundMe campaign to cover the installation and maintenance of five cameras around Christopher Park — home to the Stonewall National Monument. In the end, Petrelis hopes to see two cameras aimed at the flagpole, as well as separate cameras at the three park entrances. His GoFundMe has raised more than $710 towards its $2,600 goal.
In his quest to get more private businesses to host cameras, Petrelis said he is waiting to hear back from places surrounding the park, like the Duplex, the Stonewall Inn, and the Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center, which is independently owned, despite its name. Petrelis also indicated that he would ask the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation to consider installing a camera in the city-controlled part of the park.
The idea behind Petrelis’ campaign is not necessarily new, even if the circumstances have changed. He said he and Menendez have discussed installing cameras in the park for nearly a decade. During a visit to Christopher Park in 2022, in the Biden era, Petrelis said he had a conversation with then-Manhattan Sites Superintendent Shirley McKinney about setting up a National Park Service-led camera focused on the center of the park so he could see people coming to the flagpole. Such cameras would also monitor any vandals who interfere with the flags around the park, Petrelis said.
Reflecting on the community response since the flag was taken down, Petrelis praised the work of activists who finished the job of re-raising a Rainbow Flag on the same flagpole after elected officials brought one but failed to properly attach it to the flagpole.
“I’m quite proud that our community responded so quickly and in large numbers,” Petrelis said. “What I am not so happy about is what the elected politicians did, showing up, bringing a plastic temporary flagpole, and trying to make it seem like the were responsible for getting the flag and flagpole installed there.”
The National Park Service and the Department of the Interior did not respond to Gay City News’ request for comment about the campaign on Feb. 20.
