The Stonewall Monument in New York will resume flying a Pride flag in an agreement reached with the National Park Service and the Trump administration. The compromise was made in an attempt to settle a lawsuit filed in February by multiple LGBTQ+ advocacy groups.

The Stonewall Inn played a pivotal role in advancing LGBTQ+ rights in the US and promoting support for the community worldwide. In 2016, Barack Obama designated the Stonewall National Monument the country’s first official LGBTQ+ monument.

A year later, the Stonewall Monument began flying the rainbow Pride flag, marking the first time a Pride flag was officially maintained at a national monument. The Pride flag’s presence at Stonewall was made permanent in 2022 under the Biden administration. However, the Trump administration had the flags removed in February.

The US government began targeting the Stonewall Monument’s connection to LGBTQ+ history in 2025, when an executive order banning the promotion of so-called ‘gender ideology’ by federal organisations caused the removal of references to transgender people from the monument’s website. Multiple mentions of bisexuality were also removed later that same year.

After the flag was removed in February, activists and local politicians raised their own Pride flag in response. Among the coalition that filed the lawsuit were LGBTQ+ groups the Gilbert Baker Foundation, Equality New York, and Village Preservation. The groups sued on the basis that the US Department of the Interior violated the Administrative Procedure Act by ignoring the policy that allows flags that provide historical context to be flown at national monuments.

The reinstallation of the Pride flag at Stonewall is a necessary triumph for the queer community, and it comes alongside the US’ continuation of LGBTQ+ rights rollbacks. Most recently, Wyoming has become the ninth state to effectively ban changes to gender markers, while Idaho has banned Pride flags from flying at government buildings, demonstrating restrictions targeting queer people and communities. The Trump administration also ended specific agreements with school districts aiming to protect queer children.

In the next week, the National Park Service will hang the Pride flag at the Stonewall National Monument again, between the national flag and the park service flag.