The state’s largest LGBTQ civil rights organization and a group of West Orange residents chalked Pride colors back onto the steps of Town Hall on May 17 after the Department of Public Works had a painted Pride symbol removed without notice because the steps need repair.
Garden State Equality acting Executive Director Brielle Winslow-Majette led the group in replacing the colors — which she said now include the trans colors — on the steps in front of the building after she and others placed “a hundred” Pride flags May 15 on the township grounds ahead of a rally planned for May 31.
“Like you all know, the Pride flag is about visibility, inclusivity, and we want to send a message to the mayor that they can wash away the paint, but they can’t wash away our pride. Happy Pride 2026,” Winslow-Majette said in an online video posted May 17.
Mayor Susan McCartney said the removal was the Department of Public Works’ routine maintenance work: “I was there when I saw them starting to power wash, and I just pulled them off the job and said that that couldn’t happen until we come up with an alternative.”
McCartney said that restoring the surface to its original condition was a necessary first step in the process of preparing for the township’s upcoming Memorial Day ceremony, and also in anticipation of the nation’s 250th anniversary and as a “proud RevolutionNJ community.”
While no one Out In Jersey contacted disputed that the steps need to be fixed, those interviewed, before the activists’ chalking, took issue with how the Essex County township handled the matter.
In addition to the lack of notice, some said, the removal was done close to Pride Month, which they viewed as disrespectful. McCartney confirmed that the painted flag will not be put back due to a policy in place since 2024 about not raising any flags, or having any type of visual display, on the steps of Town Hall. The policy was put into place in response to the flying of Israeli and Palestinian flags at Town Hall after Oct. 7, 2023.
“It wasn’t against anyone in particular or any group in particular. It was just to maintain the peace,” McCartney said. Many activists were unaware of the township’s ban on raising flags and visual displays. The Pride symbol on the Town Hall steps had been painted prior to 2024.
In a statement posted on the township’s website May 5 after the symbol’s removal, the mayor said that her “commitment to honoring the values, cultures, traditions, and identities of every member of our community is unwavering and I want to be transparent with you about a recent change you may have noticed. The Pride rainbow on the Town Hall steps has been removed to allow for necessary restoration and repair work.”
“I want to acknowledge directly how uncomfortable the timing of this may seem, given that we are soon to proclaim June as Pride Month and I understand why it raises concerns. The Township continues to have a deep respect for the LGBTQIA+ community. My Administration is already working with the Human Relations Commission on a meaningful Pride event in June, and I want to assure you that your voice matters, and I am listening. An updated version of Pride spirit will be showcased in the coming weeks.
“I warmly welcome any and all suggestions for other ways to prominently showcase Pride in our community,” the mayor said.
Some possible alternatives to the painted pride symbol on the steps have been proposed, such as a painted crosswalk. The mayor suggested colored lights wrapped around the trees and the landscaping in front of Town Hall. An electrical sign with a graphic designed by the West Orange Pride Coalition could also be kept on continual loop.
“I guess we can display anything that they would like to display. Just not on Town Hall,” McCartney said.
Winslow-Majette called the township website’s statement “pretty tone deaf and ingenuine” and said it did not match the level of outrage the removal caused.
Brian Rock, 42, who’s lived in the township since 2018 and who’s running for mayor, said his reaction when he learned of the removal was shock and confusion as to why. “No one knew about this beforehand,” said Rock, who describes himself as an ally and who has LGBTQ family members. He said that to be generous and give the mayor some benefit of the doubt, the steps were in need of repair, but she didn’t make any commitment to repaint them with the symbol afterward.
“It would have been one thing to say, ‘Hey, we’re going to fix the steps and then repaint them for Pride ’26,’ but everything that she’s said since seems to indicate that she doesn’t plan to repaint them, and people seem pretty upset about it,” Rock said.
Among those upset by the township’s removal was Gia Garcia. She has been a resident for 10 years, and while she is no longer a permanent resident because her business in Atlanta has her dividing her time between Georgia and the Garden State, she remains involved in the township. She is the chairperson and founder of the West Orange Pride Coalition.
Garcia said the township’s action without communication beforehand and the timing so close to Pride Month were insensitive.
According to Garcia, the symbol was the only real representation the LGBTQ community had in West Orange for residents and for those visiting the township. The symbol, she said, let everyone know that West Orange is inclusive and accepting. “It would not be such a big deal if it hadn’t always been a struggle under her administration to get things done,” Garcia said, adding that the township’s LGBTQ community feels disrespected.
Winslow-Majette told the mayor in a pointed letter sent before she and others placed the Pride flags on the grounds and chalked the steps that notice goes out when construction is taking place on a random block or when sewer issues arise, but not for the removal of “a longstanding piece of our community.”
“The timing and lack of process — especially in the hostile climate the community is currently facing — is particularly egregious,” Winslow-Majette wrote. She gave examples of that climate that include the removal by the federal government of the Pride flag at the Stonewall National Monument in New York City and similar actions in Florida, Texas, and other states. The Stonewall issue was resolved after plaintiffs who filed a federal lawsuit and the government reached an agreement. The Pride flag is back in place at the site.
Still, federal and state leaders have passed laws and issued directives and executive orders against the LGBTQ community that include removing rainbow-colored crosswalks, not allowing for an “X” gender marker on passports, and Kansas, for example, invalidating driver’s licenses and birth certificates for transgender residents if the gender marker does not match their sex assigned at birth.
“…(W)e continue to see communities rising up to respond to these attempts at erasure and exclusion,” Winslow-Majette wrote. And she wants those coming to a rally planned to take place at 4:30 p.m. May 31 at Town Hall, 66 Main St., to rise up as well. She said she wants rally attendees to wear colors of the Progressive Pride flag.
“Our pride cannot be based on a poor decision made by an elected official that’s supposed to serve our community,” she said.
At this point, the only appropriate action to take to remedy the situation, Rock said before the colors were chalked back onto the steps, is for the township to repaint the flag on them as part of Pride Month this year.
“When they did it the first time, it was a community event. People came out, and they helped paint it. They had, I think, the Sherwin-Williams in town had donated the paint, so it was a collective effort. I think that would be a way to engage people again and say, ‘Look, let’s put this behind us and come together.’ But I think anything short of that would just be ignoring the harm that this caused,” he said.
–Additional reporting by News Editor Spencer Watson.
