Letitia James Calls for Information After Pride Vandalism

New York Attorney General Letitia James is calling for information leading to those responsible for vandalizing Pride flags at New York City’s Stonewall National Monument this week.

Amid Pride Month, over 150 rainbow LGBTQ+ flags lining the city’s monument were vandalized this week for the second year in a row, according to the New York City Police Department (NYPD) on Friday.

The vandalism is suspected to have taken place between Thursday evening and Friday morning, where 160 flags both inside and outside the monument were broken. According to a statement from the NYPD, the vandal climbed a fence to gain access to the monument. While no arrests have been made, the investigation is ongoing.

In response to the vandalism, James took to X, formerly Twitter, on Friday to condemn the actions as she made a call for anyone with information about the vandalism to contact the police.

“This is disgusting. In New York, we stand for love and acceptance, not hate and bigotry. Anyone with information about this vandalism should contact @NYPDNews,” she wrote.

Newsweek has reached out to James’ office via email for comment.

James is not the first to condemn the attacks as New York City Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement, “Hate has no place in our city.”

“Our administration wants every member of our LGBTQ+ community to know: we are here for you and our administration will always have your back. We will work in close coordination with the NYPD to identify and hold accountability whoever committed this heinous act,” the mayor added.

The monument, located in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village neighborhood, serves as a significant place for the LGBTQ+ community for decades as it is across the street from the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar that was the site of the June 1969 riots that is often considered a turning point in the gay rights movement.

In 2016, under the Barack Obama administration, the White House designated the Stonewall Inn as the country’s first-ever national monument to the LGBTQ+ equality movement.

Vandalism or other attacks against the LGBTQ+ community has continued to rise across the country. According to the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), a LGBTQ+ media advocacy group, during last year’s Pride Month there were at least 145 incidents of harassment, vandalism and assault directed at LGBTQ+ people and events nationwide.

Newsweek has also reached out to GLAAD via email for comment.

In addition, Pride flags at the New York monument were vandalized on three different occasions during Pride Month. Three men were eventually arrested in connection to the incidents and charged with criminal mischief as a hate crime.

James’ spoke at the 35th annual GLAAD Media Awards in New York last month for the work her and her office are doing to create a more inclusive state by protecting the LGBTQ+ community.

“As the New York State Attorney General, it is my job to ensure equal justice for all. And I take that sacred duty very seriously,” James said, adding that in her position, she has the power to hold “some of the most powerful individuals and institutions accountable.”

Her appearance at the awards follows her opposition to Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman as she demanded in March that he repeal an executive order restricting the ability of transgender women and girls to participate in athletic events at county-run facilities, arguing it is “in clear violation” of state law.