For the third time in just over a week, Pride flags were vandalized outside the Stonewall National Monument in Manhattan's West Village, police said.
In the latest incident, nearly three dozen flags were found broken or stolen around 8 a.m. Sunday morning, according to police.
It comes after other recent and troubling acts of vandalism during Pride Month. The first incident occurred on June 10, in which neighbors in the area discovered about 60 Pride flags torn down from the fence, broken apart and thrown on the sidewalk.
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Police released images of alleged suspects in that incident. The group of men was seen in the area after the flags had been vandalized around 3 a.m. Saturday. They were last seen heading east on Waverly Place.
Then on 1 p.m. on June 15, officers responded to another call reporting vandalism, when again several Pride flags that had been displayed were broken and torn down across the street from the Stonewall Inn — a place many consider to be the birthplace of the gay rights movement.
The NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force was said to be looking into the incidents, but investigators are not considering the three incidents at the LGBTQ+ memorial to be connected.
There is also an investigation into two teenage suspects that were seen on camera ripping down and stealing a Pride flag in Queens, damaging the fixture attached to the front of the Fresh Meadows home where it had been hung. Police said the incident occurred Tuesday near 190th Street and 75th Avenue.
Richard Marzullo, the homeowner, said he can't believe the flag is gone, saying it's the first time vandals have actually taken the whole thing. He shared video from 2022 in which someone wearing all black took down the flag and threw it to the ground, as well as a group in 2021 running away after vandalism.
"A lesson needs to be learned, this is likely to keep happening if nothing else happens," said Marzullo.
The search for the suspects in that incident is ongoing, and police said both are facing potential hate crime charges.
Each of the incidents come as the Human Rights Campaign, the largest advocacy organization of its kind across the nation, declared a state of emergency for LGBTQ+ people in the U.S. It's the first time in its more than 40-year history that the group has made such a declaration, pointing out the rise of legislation in statehouses around the country directed at regulating the lives of queer people.
