President Donald Trump’s administration has agreed to bring back the Pride flag at the historic Stonewall National Monument.
Trump’s administration announced on Monday, April 13, that the LGBTQIA+ flag will resume flying at the Stonewall National Monument in New York City, per AP News. The flag was removed in February.
In a joint court filing, the Interior Department and National Park Service wrote that they have “confirmed their intention to maintain a Pride flag at Stonewall.” The flag will remain raised except for “maintenance or other practical purposes.” A judge has yet to approve the deal at the time of publication.
Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal opened up about the flag returning to the monument via social media on Monday.
“We fought the Trump administration and won,” he wrote via Instagram. “We as an LGBTQ community celebrate the legal climb-down by the gutless Trump Administration on their contemptuous attempt to erase queer people from American history at Stonewall, the birthplace of the worldwide LGBTQ human rights movement.”
He continued, “I’m extremely grateful to the Gilbert Baker Foundation, @lambdalegal @EqualityNewYork @gvshp_nyc and the other nonprofit organizations who had the courage to take the Trump Administration to court and the hundreds of New Yorkers who joined us to reraise the Pride flag at Stonewall.”
Hoylman-Sigal, 60, is the first openly gay person elected as the Manhattan Borough President. He is married to David Sigal, with whom he tied the knot with in February 2013. Together they share two daughters, Silvia, 15, and Lucy, 8.
After the Trump administration removed the Pride flag from the historic monument, Hoylman-Sigal held a protest with U.S. Representative Dan Goldman, State Senators Erik Bottcher and Brian Kavanagh and Assembly members Deborah Glick and Tony Simone in opposition of the decision and an attempt to bring it back.
“There was no discussion,” city council speaker Julie Menin said at the event. “There was no warning. It was taken.”
The flag was taken after the National Park Service wrote in a memo, “Only the U.S. flag and other congressionally or departmentally authorized flags are flown on N.P.S.-managed flagpoles, with limited exceptions,” per The New York Times. “Any changes to flag displays are made to ensure consistency with that guidance.”
According to the Stonewall National Monument website, the memorial honors those who fought for equality on June 28, 1969.
“Forever changing the course of the LGBTQIA+ movement, the events that transpired on this day became one of the most pivotal moments in the fight for full equality before closing its doors,” the site reads. “A few years after President Obama designated a national monument at the site of Stonewall Rebellion in 2016, Pride Live secured the lease to the long-empty 51 Christopher Street storefront and reimagined and transformed the 2,100 square foot space into the Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center, the first LGBTQIA+ visitor center within the National Park System.”
