It’s back — or at least halfway back?
The federal government has formally reinstalled the Rainbow Flag at the Stonewall National Monument in accordance with an April 13 settlement, but the flagpole has taken on a much different look — and locals have mixed reactions to the new setup.
The newly-replaced Rainbow Flag is now sitting next to a National Park Service (NPS) Flag about halfway down the flagpole. An American Flag, meanwhile, towers over the other two flags on the flagpole.
It is not clear when the flags were reinstalled, but a source told Gay City News that the flags were not in the park when it closed on the evening of April 15. The flags were on the flagpole by the morning of April 16. A park ranger near the park declined to comment, and the NPS press office did not immediately respond to questions from Gay City News on April 16.
The April 13 settlement was announced by the Gilbert Baker Foundation, Village Preservation, and Equality New York, who are represented by Lambda Legal and Washington Litigation Group. The settlement, stemming from a February lawsuit, stipulated that the “Pride Flag will remain hanging at Stonewall and will not be removed save for maintenance or other practical purposes,” but it also directed the NPS to place the “American flag at the top of the flagpole” and “on either side, NPS will hang the rainbow Pride and NPS flags.”
The latest changes to the flagpole come two months after the federal government infuriated queer New Yorkers — and the broader American LGBTQ community — by removing the flag without notice at the historic site, which is known as the birthplace of the modern LGBTQ rights movement. The government told Gay City News at the time that “only the US flag and other congressionally or departmentally authorized flags are flown on NPS-managed flagpoles, with limited exceptions.” Gay City News was the first to report on the flag’s removal.
Activists defied the federal government and re-raised the Rainbow Flag at the Stonewall National Monument on Feb. 12. Over the last two months, the flagpole had an American flag positioned on top of the flagpole, with the Rainbow Flag just below it.
Even that setup, however, represented a departure from the way the flagpole was originally set up under the Biden administration, which allowed the flagpole to feature a single Rainbow Flag with the colors of the Progress Pride Flag and a National Park Service logo.
When Trump returned to power last year, the new administration only allowed the regular Rainbow Flag — until the White House opted to remove it altogether in February.
The newly-replaced Rainbow Flag attracted visitors who snapped pictures as they walked past the park on an unusually warm day in New York City.
Steven Love Menendez, who has long been a caretaker of the flags in the park and worked closely with activist Michael Petrelis to install the flagpole, expressed mixed emotions after seeing the new flags.
“While I am very happy that the settlement was made with the new administration so a Pride Flag can be on the flagpole permanently, it brings a sense of loss to see that the flagpole is not being utilized in the way it was created by national parks to mimic the activist flag and pole that was there before it,” Menendez told Gay City News. “The Pride Flag was the top and the predominant flag, and on the sides, we rotated different flags that represented different segments of the community, like trans, two-spirit, bisexual, etc.”
Menendez is encouraging LGBTQ community members to write letters to the NPS to let them know which Rainbow Flags are most important to them.
“There are many voices and they should all be heard, honored, and respected,” Menendez said. “This situation reminds me of the quote that is often attributed to Marsha P. Johnson: ‘No Pride for some of us without Pride for all of us.'”
Menendez was not the only community member in the park on April 16 who felt conflicted about the new-look flagpole.
“When I walked by, I was wondering why the Rainbow Flag was at half-mast,” said Stelle Hönig, who was sitting in the park during the afternoon. “It’s almost like it’s being lowered below everything. A park that was meant to remember a queer tragedy is being taken over by the American Flag as a whole.”
Another park visitor, Nicole Aubry, said the Trump administration “tried to take away our Pride Flag, but it wasn’t going to happen.” Still, Aubry wasn’t completely pleased with the new setup.
“You can still see it, but I wish it could be more up, and I see the trans colors are not in the flag, so somebody did something with the flag to change it,” Aubry said. Still, Aubry added, “We won against Trump.”
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