Video surveillance footage showed three men attacking trans flags at the historic site during Pride month.


Officers with the New York Police Department arrested a Colorado man on Tuesday in connection with vandalizing multiple Pride flags at the Stonewall National Monument during Pride Month in June.

Patrick Murphy, 25, was charged with a hate crime and criminal mischief for the incident, which occurred just after 3 a.m. on Thursday, June 15, at the Stonewall National Monument in Christopher Park. Police say Murphy and two other men were captured on video removing and destroying several transgender flags that were part of a display featuring 60 different Pride flags hanging on a fence at the monument. Part of the fence was also destroyed in the attack.

NYPD officials told the Patch the two other men seen in the video have not been arrested.

It was the second time in three months that Pride flags were vandalized in Manhattan. In May, a man was arrested and charged with burglary, trespassing, and multiple hate crime counts for an incident at Buceo 95’s eatery on April 15. Police say Fred Innocent, 41, entered the eatery around 1 a.m., defecated on a Pride flag in front of patrons, then used a second Pride flag to wipe clean his backside.

Patch reported Innocent lives in supported housing for New York residents suffering from “serious mental illness” issues.

Christopher Park where the attack occurred is across the street from the location of the famed Stonewall Inn and the site of the 1969 Stonewall Riots. The Stonewall Inn and Christopher Park were designated national monuments in 2016.


  • Flying Squid
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    4110 months ago

    Republicans won’t be happy until it’s open season on the streets for them to use their “second amendment rights” to hunt down every queer person they can.

      • Flying Squid
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        2110 months ago

        I’ve wondered that for decades.

      • @Madison420
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        1410 months ago

        At this point you have to wonder why they’re so obsessed with drag and gay people.

        • @[email protected]
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          fedilink
          610 months ago

          Nah. They do it because they need a minority group they can point fingers at to distract people from actually scrutinizing their policy.

    • @Ensign_Crab
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      1310 months ago

      Be fair. They won’t be happy then either.

    • diprount_tomato
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      -2610 months ago

      Sure sure, keep thinking that 3 people removing trans flags means half of the country will start mass killings

        • diprount_tomato
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          -2110 months ago

          It reads more like isolated cases of assholes with probably more than one mental problem killing people than a genocide carried over by half of the country, if I’m being honest.

          It’s not something to underestimate, but it’s not as big as you claimed it to be

          • Flying Squid
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            2510 months ago

            Sure, it’s always ‘isolated cases.’ It couldn’t possibly be influenced by all the anti-LGBT+ rhetoric in right-wing media.

            • diprount_tomato
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              -1910 months ago

              Sure, the media is constantly saying “Kill as much LGBT people as you can”

              • Flying Squid
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                10 months ago

                You do know that there’s such a thing as subtext, right? And when you start saying things like transwomen using women’s bathrooms are a threat to women, you are suggesting something should be done about it.

                • diprount_tomato
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                  10 months ago

                  And going from “something should be done” to killing people is a huge leap that few people have done, as the cases suggest

                  • Flying Squid
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                    1810 months ago

                    Oh, well, as long as it’s “few people.” Let’s not worry about it. Let’s especially not worry about that number increasing because it’s definitely not possible, right?

                    Do you think Nazi Germany started with killing the Jews on day one?

      • @Ensign_Crab
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        510 months ago

        Sure, sure, keep pretending that you’re not happy this happened.

          • @Ensign_Crab
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            510 months ago

            Based on your participation so far in this thread, it’s not like you hadn’t made it perfectly clear.

            • diprount_tomato
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              -510 months ago

              Sure, correcting extremists automatically means I want a group of people dead

              • norbert
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                610 months ago

                Running interference for a group that wants people to not exist automatically means you’re defending phobic assholes.

                • diprount_tomato
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                  -510 months ago

                  “If you’re not with me you’re against me” fucking mentality

                  • norbert
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                    510 months ago

                    Now you’re getting it. Almost like we’re judged by the company we keep or something.

              • @Ensign_Crab
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                10 months ago

                I didn’t say you wanted them dead, just that you’re happy about the vandalism.

                But now I’m pretty sure you do, since you’ve volunteered the information.

                • diprount_tomato
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                  -210 months ago

                  “volunteered the information” dude, shutting up an exaggerating dude isn’t “being happy about vandalism”

                  • @Ensign_Crab
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                    110 months ago

                    No one was talking about anyone wanting them dead until you got all weirdly and specifically defensive about something no one said.