Legal Settlement Secured: Pride Flag to Return Permanently to Stonewall National Monument's Federal Flagpole

Activists celebrate after relocating the pride flag to the original federal flagpole

 A legal settlement filed in federal court on Monday brings to a close a dispute over the removal of the rainbow Pride flag from the Stonewall National Monument in New York City. Under the terms of the agreement, the Trump administration has committed to returning the flag to the monument's official federal flagpole within seven days of the settlement taking effect and to maintaining it at the site on a permanent basis. The agreement remains subject to judicial approval before it becomes binding.

The Stonewall National Monument occupies a 7.7-acre site in Greenwich Village, directly opposite the Stonewall Inn, a bar whose significance to the LGBTQ rights movement dates to 1969, when a police raid on the premises catalysed a period of sustained activism that is widely regarded as the foundation of the modern movement for LGBTQ civil rights. Former President Barack Obama formally designated the site as a national monument in 2016.

The dispute originated in February, when the National Park Service removed the rainbow Pride flag — which had been installed during the administration of former President Joe Biden — citing Department of the Interior regulations stipulating that federal flagpoles at park-managed sites may only display officially designated flags, with an exception for flags that provide historical context. The removal drew an immediate and vocal public response, with demonstrators raising their own Pride flags at and around the monument in protest.

Several nonprofit and historic preservation organisations subsequently filed suit to compel reinstatement of the flag. Among the plaintiffs was the Gilbert Baker Foundation, named for the designer of the Pride flag. Foundation president Charles Beal issued a statement following the settlement, describing the rainbow flag as a global symbol of hope, visibility, and the continuing pursuit of equality. He emphasised that its presence at Stonewall — the recognised birthplace of the contemporary LGBTQ rights movement — carries irreplaceable historical and cultural significance. Restoring the flag, he said, affirms both the truthfulness of that history and the legitimacy of the ongoing struggle for dignity and inclusion.

Under the settlement's terms, three flags will be displayed together on the monument's federal flagpole going forward: the flag of the United States, the rainbow Pride flag, and the National Park Service flag.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani welcomed the outcome, describing it as a victory for the LGBTQ community and for the city as a whole, and characterising it as a demonstration that New Yorkers will not permit their history to be revised or erased.

North American Editorial Office: Robin