The Trump administration A large pride flag has been removed from the Stonewall National Monument in New York City, marking the latest move by the federal government to end diversity programs and clean up history Shared in national parks.
The memorial commemorates the June 1969 riots following a police raid on the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village. Six days of protests against police action were a key moment in sparking the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement, and the site has since become a national symbol of LGBTQ+ pride.
“They cannot erase our history. Our pride flag will fly again,” wrote Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Siegal, who is gay. A social media post. He confirmed that the Pride flag was removed on the weekend of 7 February following a 21 January memorandum from the Interior Department.
The Memo From the Interior Department, which oversees the National Park Service, issued “Guidance for Superintendents and Site Managers on Policies and Procedures for the Display and Flying of Non-Agency Flags and Pennants,” which states that only US flags, agency flags, and the POW/MIA flag are permitted in parks, but with his list of exceptions that include flags that “provide context.”
Interior Department flagpoles “are not intended to serve as a forum for free public expression,” the memo read. “Instead, approved non-agency flags and pennants may be flown as expressions of official sentiments of the federal government.”
In a statement to the Guardian, the Interior Department said: “Policy governing flag displays on federal property has been in place for decades. Recent guidance explains how that long-standing policy is consistently applied at NPS-managed sites.” “Stonewall National Monument will continue to preserve and understand the historic significance of the site through exhibits and programs,” it added.
Julie Menin, Speaker of the New York City Council and Co-Chair of the Council’s LGBTQ+ Caucus, Denied The National Park Service was asked to remove the pride flag and put the flag back in a letter To the Trump administration.
Chuck Schumer, Senate Minority Leader New Yorkcondemned the move in a statement: “Removing the Pride rainbow flag from Stonewall National Monument is an outrageous act that must be reversed now.” He said: “There is one thing I know about this latest attempt to rewrite history, to incite division and discrimination, and to strip our community of pride: That flag will come back. New Yorkers will see it.”
New Yorkers are already planning to protest against the move A show Scheduled for Tuesday evening.
Stacey Lentz, co-owner of the Stonewall Inn, which operates independently of the national monument, called Removal of the flag is a “horrendous attack on the park”. “We can’t trust the government with our history or our stories,” she said.
Barack Obama designated the site a National Monument in 2016. In 2017, when then-Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke certified the flagpole as being on city, not federal, land, the site decided to fly a pride flag, Gay City News reported At that time. In June 2022, during the Biden administration, the Pride flag was raised on federal land on the first day of Pride Month. As soon as Donald Trump is re-elected in 2024, his administration removed All references to transgender people from the National Park Service website for Stonewall National Monument. In June 2025, Stonewall is a national monument excluded Transgender and progress flags from its Pride Month display.
