Rainbow Flags vandalized near Stonewall for second straight year

Yet again, Rainbow Flags on display at the Stonewall National Monument were vandalized during Pride Month — this time on Flag Day.

Steven Love Menendez, who is the caretaker of the flag display at Christopher Park, told Gay City News he discovered the vandalized flags when he arrived at the park on the morning of June 14 as part of his routine process of checking on the flags daily at 7 a.m. The incident came less than two weeks after Menendez and several other LGBTQ advocates installed a new batch of flags during a June 1 ceremony to kick off Pride Month.

Menendez told Gay City News that the vandals hit three-quarters of the 250-flag display, leaving many of the flags broken and tossed on the ground. He immediately reported it to the National Park Service as well as the NYPD, which confirmed to Gay City News that police launched an investigation. It is not clear what time the incident occurred.

The incident came nearly a year to the day after vandals knocked several Rainbow and Transgender Flags off a fence during the early morning hours of June 10 of last year. Multiple people were arrested several months later in connection with last year’s incident.

“It’s disappointing because this is the eighth year of this installation and there was no vandalism in the first six years,” Menendez told Gay City News. “Last year was the first time.”

Menendez pointed to the disturbing rise of anti-LGBTQ bigotry and hysteria across the nation as he expressed disdain over the attack.

“The last few years, the rhetoric has just gotten so hot — with the Republicans, the extreme right, creating all this hysteria,” Menendez explained. “This is one of our most sacred landmarks to the movement of the LGBTQ community.”

Menendez and others spent years fighting to convince the federal government to install Rainbow Flags in the park after a 2017 plan to dedicate a flag at the Stonewall National Monument was nixed by the Trump administration, which insisted that the area of the park was on city land instead of federal land. The issue persisted until Trump left office and the Biden administration finally allowed advocates to move forward with the plan to install a Rainbow Flag on federal land at the park.

The incident came nearly a year to the day after vandals knocked several Rainbow and Transgender Flags off a fence during the early morning hours of June 10 of last year. There were multiple arrests in that case three months later.

The incident drew words of condemnation from out Councilmember Erik Bottcher, who represents the neighborhood and serves as the co-chair of the City Council’s LGBTQIA+ Caucus.

“Anyone who thinks this will intimidate our community is badly mistaken,” Bottcher said in a post on X. 

State Attorney General Letitia James also denounced the attack, calling the act of hate “disgusting.”

“In New York, we stand for love and acceptance, not hate and bigotry,” James said on X. “Anyone with information about this vandalism should contact [the NYPD].”

Rainbow Flags have been targeted several times over the years in New York City — and not just near Stonewall. In a different case from last year, an individual set a Rainbow Flag on fire at the Little Prince restaurant in Manhattan, leading to the arrest of a suspect who avoided jail time after she was placed in the custody of the State Health Department due to an unspecified mental illness.

As for the task of restoring the flags, Menendez wasted no time.

“The installation is already back up,” he said.