Months after a controversial removal sparked widespread public outcry and legal action, the iconic rainbow Pride flag is set to return permanently to the official federal flagpole at New York’s Stonewall National Monument, following a court settlement reached by the Trump administration with LGBTQ+ advocacy and historic preservation groups.
Widely recognized as the symbolic birthplace of the modern global LGBTQ+ rights movement, the Stonewall site sits across the street from the Stonewall Inn, the Greenwich Village gay bar where the 1969 Stonewall Uprising began. The uprising, sparked by a discriminatory police raid on the venue, ignited a decades-long fight for queer equality that has reshaped civil rights discourse around the world.
The dispute traces back to February, when the U.S. National Park Service removed the Pride flag from the monument’s main flagpole. The agency justified the action by citing Department of the Interior rules that restrict flying non-designated flags on official federal flagpoles at National Park Service-managed sites, except for flags that carry specific historical context. The rainbow flag had originally been installed at the site during the administration of former President Joe Biden, after the 7.7-acre monument was first designated by former President Barack Obama in 2016.
The flag’s removal immediately drew fierce backlash from LGBTQ+ communities, activists and public officials across the country. Critics of the action held impromptu demonstrations at the monument, and raised unofficial private Pride flags at the site in protest. A coalition of nonprofit organizations, including the Gilbert Baker Foundation — named for the queer artist who created the original rainbow Pride flag in 1978 — and several historic preservation groups responded by filing a lawsuit against the administration to challenge the removal.
Details of the settlement, which was outlined in court documents filed Monday, show the Trump administration has agreed to reinstall the Pride flag to the monument’s official flagpole within seven days of judicial approval, and commit to keeping it displayed at the site permanently. Under the terms of the agreement, three flags will fly together on the federal flagpole: the U.S. national flag, the National Park Service flag, and the rainbow Pride flag.
Charles Beal, president of the Gilbert Baker Foundation, celebrated the settlement in a public statement released Monday, calling the rainbow banner a global symbol that carries far more than symbolic weight. “It is a global emblem of hope, visibility, and the ongoing struggle for equality,” Beal said. “Its presence at Stonewall, the birthplace of the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement, is both historically and culturally indispensable. Restoring the flag affirms the truth of our history and the legitimacy of our continued fight for dignity and inclusion.”
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani also hailed the outcome as a landmark win for the LGBTQ+ community and all New Yorkers. In a post on X, the mayor wrote that the flag’s return is “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.”
The settlement still requires final approval from a federal judge to go into effect, but activists across the country have already marked the outcome as a critical win for protecting queer history and ensuring equal visibility for the LGBTQ+ rights movement at its most iconic site.