LGBTQ rainbow flags destroyed by vandals outside Stonewall Inn, NYC birthplace of gay rights movement
NEW YORK — Three people destroyed gay pride rainbow flags flying in a park outside the Stonewall Inn, the Greenwich Village bar where an NYPD raid in 1969 sparked the gay rights movement.
The vandalism happened at 3:10 a.m. on Sunday as the three men were walking past the Stonewall National Monument in Christopher Park on Christopher St.
They broke a number of flags displayed on a fence, then took off, heading east on Waverly Place.
The NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating the incident, which comes as the city celebrates Pride Month. The Stonewall is considered the birthplace of the gay rights movement.
Cops released surveillance footage of the three suspects Monday and are asking for the public’s help identifying them and tracking them down.
In May, a homeless man was charged with several hate crimes for allegedly defecating on an LGBTQ Pride flag and wiping his behind with another at a Manhattan restaurant.
Fred Innocent, 45, walked into Buceo 95, a tapas bar on W. 95th St. and Broadway on the Upper West Side, on April 15 and grabbed two rainbow flags off of a table, cops said. He relieved himself on one of the banners, according to police, then cleaned himself with another.
