The government revealed the decision in court papers as it agreed to\u00a0settle a lawsuit filed by LGBTQ+ and historic preservation groups<\/a>\u00a0who had sought to block the removal. A judge must still approve the deal.<\/p>\n The Interior Department and National Park Service \u201chave confirmed their intention to maintain a Pride flag at Stonewall,\u201d lawyers for the government and the groups wrote in a joint court filing. It won\u2019t be removed, except for \u201cmaintenance or other practical purposes,\u201d the filing said.<\/p>\n Under the agreement, within a week, the Park Service will hang three flags on the Stonewall monument flagpole in Manhattan. The Pride flag will fly between the U.S. flag and the Park Service flag. Each flag will measure three feet by five feet (.9 meters by 1.5 meters).<\/p>\n \u201cWe fought the Trump administration and won,\u201d said Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal, a Democrat who helped organize a protest Pride flag raising at the monument after the government-authorized banner was removed.<\/p>\n \u201cWe 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,\u201d said Hoylman-Sigal, who is the first openly gay person elected to his job.<\/p>\n The Pride flag had become a flashpoint for arguments over President\u00a0Donald Trump<\/a>\u00a0\u2019s approach to the Stonewall site \u2014 the first national monument commemorating LGBTQ+ history \u2014 and various other historical properties.<\/p>\n After a\u00a0yearslong campaign<\/a>\u00a0by activists who wanted the\u00a0flag symbolizing LGBTQ+ pride<\/a>\u00a0to be flown daily inside the park service-run site, the\u00a0banner was formally installed<\/a>\u00a0in 2022, during Democratic President\u00a0Joe Biden<\/a>\u00a0\u2019s tenure.<\/p>\n At the time, park service officials in New York called the display a sign of the government\u2019s commitment to \u201ctelling the complex and diverse histories of all Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n But in February, the park service\u00a0removed the flag<\/a>, in what the agency explained as compliance with federal guidance on flag displays. A Jan. 21 park service memo largely restricts the agency to displaying the U.S., Department of the Interior and POW\/MIA flags, with exemptions that include providing \u201chistorical context.\u201d<\/p>\n The park service insisted that the monument \u201cremains committed to preserving and interpreting the history and significance of this site\u201d through various exhibits and programs. But LGBTQ+ activists saw the flag\u2019s removal as a targeted affront meant to diminish a site that is all about their fight for rights and visibility.<\/p>\n Advocates and some New York Democratic elected officials turned up soon after with another rainbow flag and \u2014 after some heated moments when the politicians seemed content to leave it on a separate, lower pole \u2014\u00a0raised it up<\/a>\u00a0alongside the U.S. flag that the park service had installed.<\/p>\n Democratic President Barack Obama\u00a0created the Stonewall monument<\/a>\u00a0in 2016. The monument centers on a tiny park across the street from\u00a0the Stonewall Inn<\/a>, the gay bar where a 1969 police raid sparked an uprising and helped catalyze\u00a0the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement<\/a>.<\/p>\n After Trump, a Republican, returned to office last year, he took aim at\u00a0diversity, equity and inclusion<\/a>\u00a0initiatives and\u00a0protections for transgender people<\/a>. In one outcome of his policies,\u00a0many references to transgender people<\/a>\u00a0were excised from the monument\u2019s website and materials.<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s administration similarly has put national parks, museums and landmarks under a messaging microscope, aiming\u00a0to remove<\/a>\u00a0or alter materials\u00a0that the government says are \u201cdivisive or partisan\u201d<\/a>\u00a0or \u201cinappropriately disparage Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By JENNIFER PELTZ and MICHAEL R. 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FILE \u2013 People demonstrate after New York politicians and activists raised a rainbow flag on a pole across the street from the Stonewall Inn, Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026, in New York, a few days after it was removed by the National Park Service to comply with guidance from the Trump administration. (AP Photo\/Yuki Iwamura, File)<\/p>\n