WASHINGTON (TNND) — A Pride flag will return to the Stonewall National Monument in New York City after it was removed from the federal flagpole by the Trump administration in February.
The administration agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by LGBTQ+ and preservation groups. A judge must also approve the deal.
The Interior Department and National Park Service “have confirmed their intention to maintain a Pride flag at Stonewall,” lawyers for the government wrote in a joint court filing.
According to the U.S. flag code, the Pride flag will be positioned below the U.S. flag.
Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal helped organize a Pride flag-raising protest at the monument following the removal.
“We fought the Trump administration and won,” Hoylman-Sigal said.
“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,” Hoylman-Sigal added, who is the first openly gay person elected to his job.
The park service agency took the flag down in February to comply with federal guidance on flag displays. As of Jan. 21, a park service memo restricted the display of POW/MIA flags. However, flags that provide “historical context” are exempt.
Although the park service said it “remains committed to preserving and interpreting the history and significance of this site,” LGBTQ+ activists saw the removal as targeted. Advocates and New York Democratic elected officials soon replaced the flag.
The National Monument was created by former President Barack Obama in 2016. It sits in a park across the street from the Stonewall Inn, the gay bar where a 1969 police raid caused an uprising that sparked the LGBTQ+ rights movement.
Editor’s note: The Associated Press contributed to this report.