The Trump administration has authorized the return of the rainbow flag to the Stonewall National Historic Site, the LGBT+ historic site on Christopher Street in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village, New York, which had been removed in February.
The LGBT+ flag is flying again over Stonewall. A few weeks after ordering its removal, the Trump administration authorized the return of the rainbow symbol to the historic site located on Christopher Street, in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York.
It was by virtue of a memo from the U.S. National Park Service, prohibiting the deployment of flags other than the national banner and a few exceptions, that the administration had removed in February the flag from this site, which has been a national monument since 2016. It commemorates indeed the riots that erupted in June 1969 after a police raid at the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in Greenwich Village, a defining event in the history of contemporary LGBT struggles, which gave birth to Pride Month celebrations.
LGBT History Matters
Challenging the removal, the Washington Litigation Group argued that unofficial flags can be allowed on certain sites as long as their deployment is justified by a historical context. A reasoning to which the administration agreed, the group says in a press release at the end of an amicable agreement allowing the emblem to be reinstalled “permanently” : “Crucial fact, the agreement confirms that the flag complies with the law and the policy of the National Park Service, thus validating the plaintiffs’ central argument.”
The removal of the rainbow banner from Stonewall had provoked anger from LGBT+ advocacy groups and many local elected officials. To protest against this decision, activists had re-hoisted a flag and festooned the entire neighborhood in the same fashion. Since taking office as President of the United States, Donald Trump has put a halt to advances in LGBT rights, particularly for transgender people.
