Trump administration agrees to return rainbow Pride flag to New York’s Stonewall monument

NEW YORK (AP) — The Trump administration said Monday it will resume flying a rainbow Pride flag on a federal flagpole at the Stonewall National Monument in New York City, reversing course two months after removing the banner from the first national monument commemorating LGBTQ+ history.

The government revealed the decision in court papers as it agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by advocacy and historic preservation groups who had sought to block the Feb. 9 removal. A judge approved the deal.

The Interior Department and National Park Service “have confirmed their intention to maintain a Pride flag at Stonewall,” lawyers for the government and the groups wrote in a joint court filing.

The flag — one of several Pride banners at the 7.7-acre (3.1-hectare) park — won’t be removed, except for “maintenance or other practical purposes,” the filing said.

Under the agreement, within a week, the park service will hang three flags on its flagpole at the monument. The Pride flag will be positioned below the U.S. flag, in accordance with U.S. flag code, and above the park service flag. Each will measure 3 feet by 5 feet (0.9 meters by 1.5 meters).

The site also features a large Pride flag on a city-controlled flagpole and smaller flags on a fence surrounding the monument, which is across the street from the Stonewall Inn, the gay bar where a 1969 police raid sparked an uprising and helped catalyze the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement. Those flags weren't removed.

“We fought the Trump administration and won,” said Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal wrote on X. The Democrat helped organize a protest Pride flag raising after the government-authorized banner was removed.

“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,” Hoylman-Sigal, the first openly gay person elected to his job, wrote.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a Democrat, called the Trump administration’s reversal “a victory for the LGBTQ+ community and for our entire city” and “a reminder that New Yorkers won’t let our history be rewritten.”

The Gilbert Baker Foundation, which honors the Pride flag creator who died in 2017, was among the organizations that sued over the removal.

“Stonewall is sacred ground in the fight for LGBTQ+ liberation, and this resolution helps ensure that the Rainbow Flag will continue to fly there, where it belongs,” foundation President Charley Beal said.

The Pride flag had become a flashpoint for arguments over Republican President Donald Trump ’s approach to Stonewall and various other historical properties.

After a yearslong campaign by activists who wanted the flag symbolizing LGBTQ+ pride to be flown daily inside the park service-run site, the banner was formally installed in 2022 during Democrat Joe Biden ’s tenure.

At the time, park service officials called it a sign of the government’s commitment to “telling the complex and diverse histories of all Americans.”

When it removed the flag in February, the park service said it was complying with federal guidance on flag displays. A Jan. 21 memo largely restricted the agency to displaying U.S., Interior Department and POW/MIA flags, with exemptions that include providing “historical context.”

The park service insisted the monument “remains committed to preserving and interpreting the history and significance of this site” through exhibits and programs. But LGBTQ+ activists saw the flag’s removal as a targeted affront meant to diminish a site that is all about their fight for rights and visibility.

Activists Michael Petrelis and Steven Love Menendez, who fought to have the park service fly the Pride flag, said they were pleased with Monday's agreement. But, they said, they were dismayed that other symbols, such as the even more inclusive Progress Pride flag, were left out.

“I look forward to the day when the flag display can restored to its original intent that allows all iterations of LGBTQ+ flags to fly,” Menendez said. “Until then at least we have the original rainbow flag flying to serve as a beacon of light.”

Democratic President Barack Obama created the Stonewall monument in 2016.

After Trump returned to office last year, he took aim at diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, and many references to transgender people were excised from the Stonewall monument’s website and materials.

Trump’s administration similarly has put national parks, museums and landmarks under a messaging microscope, aiming to remove or alter materials that it says are “divisive or partisan” or “inappropriately disparage Americans.”

Anthony Izaguirre contributed to this report.

A rainbow Pride flag flies with an American flag at the Stonewall National Monument in New York, Monday, April 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Small rainbow Pride flags are displayed near a flagpole with a larger Pride flag at the Stonewall National Monument in New York, Monday, April 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

A rainbow Pride flag flies with an American flag at the Stonewall National Monument in New York, Monday, April 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

FILE - 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)

FILE - New York politicians and activists raise a rainbow flag on a pole in Christopher Park 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)

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — San Jose Sharks teenage sensation Macklin Celebrini is open to signing a contract extension this summer after breaking the franchise record for points in a season in just his second year in the NHL.

Celebrini has one year remaining on the three-year, $2.925 million entry-level contract he signed after being drafted first overall in 2024. He is eligible to become a restricted free agent after next season but can sign an extension any time after July 1.

“I’m just open to every possibility,” Celebrini said Saturday at locker clean out day. There’s nothing really that goes into it. It goes hand in hand with me. I want to commit to this team and being here. I love it here. I’m open to whatever happens."

Under the terms of the new collective bargaining agreement, this is the last summer that players remaining with their own team can sign extensions for eight years. Starting in September, those deals will be limited to seven years.

Celebrini said he hadn't thought about whether he was interested in a long or short-term deal.

General manager Mike Grier said later that the team would like to get a deal done this summer but added that the team has another year before something needs to get done.

“We’re definitely open to it, and he’s obviously someone we want to be here for as long as possible,” he said. “We haven’t really had any talks or discussions yet, and hopefully you guys won’t know when we do. But obviously it’s something we would like to get done it at some point, but if it’s the case where we don’t get it done, it’s not the end of the world either.”

Celebrini said he has talked to 2023 No. 1 overall pick Connor Bedard of the Chicago Blackhawks about the approach. Bedard opted not to sign an extension last summer and will be eligible to be a restricted free agent this summer.

“Connor and I are pretty good friends,” Celebrini said. “I talked to him a little bit just about his situation. He approached it differently, and every guy’s situation is going to be a little bit different.”

Celebrini is coming off one of the greatest seasons ever for a teenager, even if it wasn't enough to send the Sharks to the playoffs. San Jose missed the postseason for a seventh straight season, finishing four points out of the second wild-card spot.

Celebrini had 45 goals and 70 assists with his 115 points breaking Joe Thornton's franchise record of 114 set in 2006-07 and trailing Wayne Gretzky (137 in 1979-80) and Sidney Crosby (120 in 2006-07) for the most in a season for a player before turning 20.

Celebrini's performance generated frequent “M-V-P!” chants from the crowd at the Shark Tank. Celebrini has a chance to be a finalist for the Hart Trophy given to the league's MVP alongside players such as Colorado's Nathan MacKinnon, Edmonton's Connor McDavid and Tampa Bay's Nikita Kucherov.

“Those are the guys that I’m looking to to learn from and watch them,” Celebrini said. “They’ve been around for 10-plus years so they’re the guys when I was a kid I was watching and even now I’m still trying to learn them and see what makes them successful. That would be pretty cool.”

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San Jose Sharks center Macklin Celebrini (71) drives the puck as Vancouver Canucks left wing Liam Ohgren (92) defends during the third period of an NHL hockey game in San Jose, Calif., Saturday, April 11, 2026. (Stephen Lam/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)