BY STEVEN LOVE MENENDEZ | I first visited Christopher Street Park and the Stonewall Inn in 1988, as an 18 -year-old on my first trip to New York City. My gay uncle took me there to show me where Gay Liberation took place. Until then, I knew very little about the movement or the historic events at the Stonewall Inn and the surrounding area.
This was long before the Internet. Back then, we learned our history from our elders—like my uncle, who died a few years later from AIDS. Visiting Christopher Park with him and learning its history was an important moment in my life. I wish I could have spent more time with him.
Fast forward to 2016 and President Obama declares Christopher Park park and the streets where the Rebellion took place as the Stonewall National Monument. The National Park Service (NPS) was organizing a community event to gather ideas. I went to the meeting and immediately wanted to get involved. In the years since, I’ve been a steward of the flag displays, and people began calling me the “caretaker to the park.”
Long before I began my work at the Monument (always in an unofficial capacity, but often with the cooperation of NPS administrators and on-site rangers), I carried a rainbow flag bearing the word “PEACE” to Occupy Wall Street protests.
Originally created in 1961 by Italian philosopher Aldo Capitini, this flag saw a massive resurgence in 2002 when it flew globally in defiance of the Iraq invasion. To me, the Rainbow flag is a unifying force that stands against all forms of oppression.
October 11, 2017 was meant to be the first Pride flag raising at a National Monument—an event co-organized by legendary activists Michael Petrelis and Ken Kidd, along with the NPS. Just days before the ceremony, it was announced that the flagpole being used—located on the corner of Christopher and Grove Streets—was just outside the Monument’s footprint and would not be the first Rainbow flag on Federal lands.
The flag-raising event inspired me to contact Manhattan Sites Superintendent Shirley McKinney to suggest installing a Rainbow flag display for Pride Month 2018. She agreed—and on June 1, 2018, I organized the installation of 250 Rainbow flags along the fence surrounding the Monument. Inside the park, I erected a temporary “activist flagpole” where I believed a permanent one should stand. (When Michael Petrelis saw this, he called it “the activist flagpole.”) This annual display has continued every Pride Month since, and has become globally recognized, often serving as a backdrop for news coverage of LGBTQ+ matters.
Starting with the 2021 Pride Month flag installation, we began including the Progress Pride flag—and, in 2022, the Transgender flag—in the display. I then began asking if the temporary flagpole inside the park could remain year-round by obtaining monthly permits. The answer was always, “No.” It could only be displayed during Pride Month. Then, in January 2021, just before President Biden’s inauguration, I again requested monthly permits starting on February 1, 2021—and this time, the answer was, “Yes.” I continued renewing the permits to keep the flag raised. After a few months, Superintendent McKinney told me that the NPS would install a permanent flagpole where my “activist flagpole” stood, and would create a custom Rainbow flag (a traditional six-stripe flag, with the NPS logo added).
Before the new flagpole was ready, the NPS Rainbow flag was completed. On June 22, 2021, the official NPS Rainbow Flag was flown from my “activist flagpole” inside the park, and from that point forward, permits were no longer needed. Activist Michael Petrelis received an official letter from the U.S. Department of the Interior, stating, in part:
“Since establishing Stonewall National Monument in 2016, our purpose is to preserve and interpret resources associated with the Stonewall Uprising—a momentous event in the history of the civil rights movement for the LGBTQ+ community. The NPS is committed to providing a positive and inclusive environment at Stonewall National Monument that reflects and supports the LGBTQ+ community. We recognize the significance of the rainbow flag to Stonewall National Monument and the community. Over the past several months, local park management installed a temporary flagpole, and the rainbow flag is proudly flown for the public to enjoy. With a generous donation from the National Park Foundation, funds have been committed toward installing a permanent flagpole inside Christopher Park.”—Gay Vietzke, Regional Director [Northeast Region of the NPS]
The permanent flagpole was completed on May 20, 2022. Then, on June 1, 2022, we held a flag-raising ceremony. A committee—consisting of myself, activist Ann Northrop, Michael Petrelis, and NPS representatives—decided to create a Progress Pride Flag featuring the NPS logo as well. At the time, many in the community called for the Progress Pride flag to be flown, as it specifically highlights marginalized groups.
From that point on, we rotated monthly between flying the traditional Rainbow flag and the Progress Pride flag. We also rotated the display of community flags—such as the Trangender and Two-Spirit flags—placed on either side of the main flag.
Over the years, I’ve witnessed the power of those flags, as people from around the world who visit the Monument stop to take photos with them. Once, a young trans person asked me to take their photo in front of the flagpole. They began to cry and told me, “I live in Texas, and we don’t have a place like this.” Their words moved me to tears, reminding me just how vital these flags are. They honor those who fought for our rights, celebrate our victories, and give hope to those struggling for acceptance—showing them a loving and supportive community stands with them.
When the Trump administration orchestrated the removal of the flag from Stonewall National Monument grounds in February 2026, it was heartbreaking for me. While I was somewhat relieved that an April court victory allowed us to permanently display a Pride flag on the pole, it came with painful stipulations: We can only display the traditional Rainbow flag beneath the American flag, and we are prohibited from flying the other Pride flags. This ruling strips away years of activism and petitioning by our community. I still hold hope that we will once again proudly fly our diverse and inclusive flags in Christopher Street Park, exactly where they belong.
Historically, the Queer community has always shown up to support and participate in movements around the world that combat injustice. The Stonewall National Monument is the heart and soul of our fight for rights, and all our flags serve as beacons of light in the darkness. The current administration may attempt to erase our history. But they will never win. They cannot strip away our spirit, or our relentless quest for equality. We possess the power to create a landscape of acceptance, compassion, love, and beauty that this world so desperately needs.
TIMELINE
June 1, 2018: The first annual display of 250 Pride flags around the park fencing for Pride Month began—featuring a temporary “activist flag” inside the park, where the permanent flagpole is now.
February 1, 2021: The first monthly permit for the “activist” Rainbow Pride flag and pole.
June 1, 2021: The Progress Pride flag is incorporated into the Pride Month display. Created by non-binary artist Daniel Quasar in 2018, the Progress Pride Flag builds upon the six-striped Rainbow Pride flag by adding the colors of the Transgender Pride flag along with brown and black, representing LGBTQ+ people of color and acknowledging those who live with, and died of, AIDS.
In the above photo: Volunteers, after having installed the 250 Progress Pride flags feartured in 2021’s park fence display. L to R: Christopher Hardwick, Jay W. Walker, Steven Love Menendez, Kambiz Shekdar, Unknown, Basil Twist.
June 22, 2021: Seen in the below photo is Steven Love Menendezz, with the first Rainbow NPS Logo flag installed on the “Activist Flagpole” (photo courtesy of Menendez).
June 1, 2022: The Transgender flag is incorporated into the Pride Month display. Created in 1999 by trans woman and activist Monica Helms, its design uses “pink and blue stripes to represent colors that have traditionally been associated with girls and boys, with white for people who are intersex, transitioning, or who don’t have a defined gender,” notes the website of the Smithsonian Institution, whose National Museum of American History has several items donated by Helms.
Seen in the above photo by Steven Love Menendez, two volunteers assist in the installation of 250 Transgender Pride flags along Stonewall National Monument’s park fence.
June 22, 2022: The first NPS Rainbow flag was installed on the “activist flagpole.”
May 20, 2022: The permanent NPS flagpole was installed with a NPS Rainbow flag on it.
June 1, 2022: The above photo by Donna Aceto shows a Stonewall National Monument flag-raising ceremony featuring the Progress flag with NPS Logo. L to R: Miss Simone, NPS Manhattan Sites Superintendent Shirley McKinney, Steven Love Menendez.
June 1, 2024: Seen in the above photo is Steven Love Menendez, with his custom-created created “Peace” and “Love” flags that the NPS officially permitted for display during Pride Month 2024 (photo courtesy of Menendez).
February 13, 2025: Beholden to the Trump Administration’s declaration that male and female are the only genders recognized by the federal government, the NPS removed all references to transgender and queer people from the Stonewall National Monument page of its website (the use of “LGBTQ+” was changed to “LGB”). We were told by phone and email that the Progress Pride and Transgender flags could no longer display inside the Monument.
The above photo was taken a few days after the removal of references to trans and queer people were deleted from the Monument’s NPS website page (photo courtesy of Menendez).
Directly below, a June 8, 2026 screenshot from the NPS website’s Stonewall National Monument section shows two uses of “LGB”—in contrast to the generally accepted “LGBTQ.”
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****************************************************************June 1, 2025: The last remaining Pride flags with the NPS logo were becoming torn and distressed, and NPS did not order replacements. So I installed the original eight-stripe Rainbow flag to be historically accurate as the first Rainbow flag created for the Gay Rights movement. The original eight-stripe flag was co-created by Gilbert Baker, Lynn Segerblom (Faerie Argyle Rainbow) and artist James McNamara, who worked as a team of volunteers to design, hand-dye, and stitch the flag for San Francisco’s 1978 Gay Freedom Day Parade.
February 9, 2026: The NPS removed the eight-striped Rainbow flag from the Stonewall Monument flagpole and left the flagpole with no flag.
February 11, 2026: The NPS installed the American flag on the Stonewall Monument flagpole (below photo by Charli Battersby).
February 12, 2026: In an act of direct defiance to its removal, the area surrounding the park is filled with LGBTQ+ people and their allies, who rally alongside activists and electeds whose actions restore the original eight-stripe Rainbow flag to Stonewall National Monument’s flag pole (below photo by Donna Aceto ).
April 13, 2026: A successful lawsuit against the Federal Government’s removal of the Rainbow flag from Stonewall National Monument resulted in a permanent (six-stripe) Pride flag being placed on the flagpole—alongside an NPS flag, but underneath an American Flag. (See the below photo by Steven Love Menendez.)
May 31, 2026: The NPS stepped back from participating in the fence display. Steven Love Menendez and a group of volunteers installed 250 Inclusive Progress Pride flags for the first time (below photo by Steven Love Menendez).
The Inclusive Progress Pride flag is currently the most widely adopted version of the LGBTQ+ flag. Designed to be intersectional and inclusive, it combines several different queer flags into one design. The Intersex-Inclusive Progress Pride flag, which adds a yellow triangle with a purple circle to the Progress flag, was designed in 2021 by Valentino Vecchietti.
May 31, 2026: Seen in the above photo by Donna Aceto, volunteers who installed (for the firt time ever) Inclusive Progress Pride flags on the park fencing. L to R: JC Austine, Karen Finley, Jay W. Walker, Robert Croonquist, Steven Love Menendez, Julie Burna, José Cuevas, Zahir Babvani. | Photo by Donna Aceto
June 1, 2026:L to R in the above photo by Donna Aceto: Lorelei Crean, Jay W. Walker, Stacy Lentz, Steven Love Menendez, Robert Croonquist, Michele Irima.
It was a full-circle moment, as we raised the Inclusive Progress Pride flag on the flagpole at the corner of Christopher and Grove Streets—the location that inspired my Rainbow flag activism at Stonewall National Monument. It brought me great joy to see this iteration of the flag raised. As our movement continues to grow in acceptance, it is a beautiful sight to see the flag evolve with it!
We are an Unstoppable Force.
Let Us Never be Silent.
Love Wins.
Power to the People!
—Steven Love Menendez, June 9, 2026
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