Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is reportedly preparing to introduce radical legislation that would effectively federalize the Pride Flag.
The uproar began when a large Pride flag was taken down from the federal monument in Greenwich Village that honors the 1969 Stonewall riots, the event widely recognized as the birthplace of the modern LGBTQ civil-rights movement.
Federal officials said the removal of the rainbow banner was to enforce longstanding rules limiting flags on National Park Service flagpoles to those officially authorized, namely the U.S. flag and certain others.
Outrage among Democrats was immediate. New York officials and activists re-raised the Pride flag days later in defiance of federal policy. The episode has now been seized upon by Schumer and allies in Congress as justification for a sweeping legislative grab.
Schumer, joined by Rep. Dan Goldman in the House, says he will introduce a bill to make the Pride flag a congressionally authorized national symbol that cannot be removed from federal monuments or properties.
Under the draft language reported in local outlets, the legislation would designate the rainbow banner as protected under federal flag law, giving it the same status as other flags sanctioned by Congress.
Hellbound and Down 