Following a landmark settlement restoring the Pride flag to the Stonewall National Monument, Lambda Legal is set to release a short film and a series of personal videos highlighting the people at the center of the fight.
Lambda Legal today launched Flying Our Flag, Protecting Our History, a roundtable discussion film, and Stories from Stonewall, a companion video series featuring members of Equality New York and a board member of the Gilbert Baker Foundation, both named organizational plaintiffs in Gilbert Baker Foundation v. U.S. Department of the Interior. The project is now live at https://lambdalegal.org/stories-from-stonewall/, with a new short-form video unlocking weekly through June 22 and the full film releasing on June 28, the Stonewall Anniversary.
The project follows Lambda Legal and Washington Litigation Group’s settlement in Gilbert Baker Foundation v. U.S. Department of the Interior, secured on April 13, 2026. The settlement required the National Park Service to restore the Pride flag to the Stonewall National Monument, the first national monument in the United States dedicated to LGBTQ+ rights and history, and to maintain it permanently. The settlement also confirmed that the Pride flag falls within federal law and NPS policy.
In February 2026, the federal government removed the flag from the monument, claiming the removal was necessary to comply with official policy. Lambda Legal and Washington Litigation Group filed suit just eight days later, arguing that the government’s policy contains an exemption for flags that provide historical context, precisely the function the Pride flag serves at Stonewall. The case was brought on behalf of plaintiffs Gilbert Baker Foundation, Charles Beal, Village Preservation, and Equality New York.
On April 28, 2026, Lambda Legal brought together Equality New York members Tanya Asapansa-Walker, Melissa Sklarz, Eunic Ortiz, and Eve Ortiz, along with Catherine Marino-Thomas, a board member of the Gilbert Baker Foundation, for a roundtable discussion at Lambda Legal’s New York headquarters. The group then traveled to the monument, where each participant was filmed individually and asked to share a personal story and connection with Stonewall.
That footage formed the basis of Stories from Stonewall. The series launched today with the first short-form video from Tanya Asapansa-Walker, available now at https://youtu.be/82n6C_uOPOM. A new video will be unveiled each week through June 22. Flying Our Flag, Protecting Our History is a short roundtable discussion film drawn from the April 28 roundtable and select footage from the Stonewall National Monument. The full film releases on June 28, the Stonewall Anniversary, at https://lambdalegal.org/stories-from-stonewall/.
The Advocate published an exclusive article about the project today. https://www.advocate.com/news/culture/stonewall-pride-flag-documentary
“Lambda Legal brought this case because the removal of the Pride flag from Stonewall was not just an attack on a symbol but an attack on the community this monument was built to honor,” said Nephetari Smith, Tyron Garner Legal Fellow at Lambda Legal. “Our settlement permanently restores the flag and confirms it belongs there under federal law. But the story of what this monument means to the people who fought for it deserves to be told. Thanks to this film, we get to hear from some of these folks in their own words.”
“I have been fighting for the right to exist openly in this country for decades,” said Tanya Asapansa-Walker, Equality New York member and the subject of the first short-form video. “The Pride flag at Stonewall was never just a symbol. It was a declaration. Watching it come down felt like a deliberate act of erasure. But we fought, and we won it back. This film is the story of what that fight costs and what it means to win.”
Resources
- Campaign page (Stories from Stonewall, featuring Tanya Asapansa-Walker’s video, is now live): https://lambdalegal.org/stories-from-stonewall/
- The Advocate exclusive: https://www.advocate.com/news/culture/stonewall-pride-flag-documentary