NEW YORK (AP) – Gay rights activists who worked to get a rainbow flag installed at the new Stonewall National Monument in New York City are upset the National Park Service says the flag isn’t actually on federal land but on city property.
The distinction may seem like a minor one because the flag is flying either way. But the group that lobbied for the flag to be flown at the site says the Park Service’s announcement the city, not the federal government, would be maintaining the flag seems like a betrayal.
The Park Service says no slight was intended.
The dispute threatened to dim the mood at a dedication ceremony for the flag Wednesday in Manhattan.
The monument is in an area around the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar where patrons resisted police in 1969 and boosted the gay rights movement.