Why Stonewall’s Pride flag mattered enough to sue Trump — and win

For Tanya Asapansa-Walker, Christopher Park in New York City has never been just a park.Sitting across from the Stonewall Inn, the transgender activist remembers gathering there with friends during the height of the AIDS epidemic, long before social media connected LGBTQ+ people across cities and states."It was a great place to meet my friends who were dying from AIDS and just to meet up with folks and chat," Asapansa-Walker says in a newly released short film. "This park is a place where we got our gay rights. We got our LGBTQ rights. People fought, bled, and died here just to exist."Her reflection opens Stories from Stonewall, a new video series launched Wednesday by Lambda Legal. The project is premiering less than two months after LGBTQ+ advocates secured a legal victory requiring the Trump administration to permanently restore the Pride flag at the Stonewall National Monument, which it had removed earlier this year.The series is part of a larger project called “Flying Our Flag, Protecting Our History”, a roundtable discussion film scheduled for release on June 28, the anniversary of the Stonewall uprising. Together, the films document the experiences of activists who helped preserve one of the most visible symbols of LGBTQ+ history at a moment when many advocates believe that history itself is under attack.Related: LGBTQ+ groups score legal victory over Trump, restoring Pride flag at Stonewall National Monument From outrage to victoryThe fight began in February when the National Park Service removed the Pride flag from the Stonewall National Monument, citing federal flag display policies.The move immediately sparked outrage among LGBTQ+ advocates, elected officials, and historians, who argued that the rainbow flag was not merely a political symbol but also part of the monument's historical context.Protests erupted at Stonewall, and within days, activists raised the flag again, and Lambda Legal and the Washington Litigation Group filed suit on behalf of the