{"id":130062,"date":"2026-02-11T14:58:38","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T14:58:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/130062\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T14:58:38","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T14:58:38","slug":"trump-administration-removes-lgbtq-pride-flag-from-stonewall-national-monument-trump-administration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/130062\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump administration removes LGBTQ+ Pride flag from Stonewall national monument | Trump administration"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Trump administration<\/a> has removed a large pride flag from the Stonewall national monument in New York City, marking the latest move by the federal government to end diversity initiatives and sanitize<\/a> the history<\/a> shared in national parks.<\/p>\n

The monument commemorates the June 1969 riots that followed a police raid on the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in Manhattan\u2019s Greenwich Village. The six days of protests against the 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey cannot erase our history. Our Pride flag will be raised again,\u201d the Manhattan borough president, Brad Hoylman-Sigal, who is gay, wrote in a social media post<\/a>. He confirmed that the Pride flag had been removed over the 7 February weekend following a 21 January memorandum from the interior department.<\/p>\n

The memo<\/a> from the interior department, which oversees the National Park Service, provided \u201cguidance to superintendents and site managers on policies and procedures for the display and flying of non-agency flags and pennants\u201d, stating only US flags, agency flags and the POW\/MIA flag are allowed at parks, while including a list of exemptions that included flags that \u201cprovide historical context\u201d.<\/p>\n

Interior department flagpoles are \u201cnot intended to serve as a forum for free expression by the public\u201d, the memo read. \u201cRather, approved non-agency flags and pennants may be flown as an expression of the Federal Government\u2019s official sentiments.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a statement to the Guardian, the interior department said: \u201cThe policy governing flag displays on federal property has been in place for decades. Recent guidance clarifies how that longstanding policy is applied consistently across NPS-managed sites.\u201d It added that, \u201cStonewall National Monument continues to preserve and interpret the site\u2019s historic significance through exhibits and programs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Julie Menin, the New York city council speaker, and the co-chairs of the council\u2019s LGBTQ+ caucus, denounced<\/a> the removal of the Pride flag and urged the National Park Service to return the flag in a letter<\/a> to the Trump administration.<\/p>\n

Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader from New York<\/a>, denounced the move in a statement, saying: \u201cThe removal of the Pride Rainbow Flag from the Stonewall National Monument is a deeply outrageous action that must be reversed right now.\u201d He added: \u201cIf there\u2019s one thing I know about this latest attempt to rewrite history, stoke division and discrimination, and erase our community pride it\u2019s this: that flag will return. New Yorkers will see to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

New Yorkers are already planning to protest against the action, with a demonstration<\/a> scheduled for Tuesday evening.<\/p>\n

Stacy Lentz, co-owner of the Stonewall Inn which operates independently from the national monument, called<\/a> the removal of the flag an \u201cawful attack on the park\u201d. \u201cWe can\u2019t trust the government with our history or with our stories,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Barack Obama designated the site as a national monument in 2016. In 2017, the site was slated to raise a Pride flag when the then interior secretary, Ryan Zinke, certified the flagpole as located on city, not federal, land, Gay City News reported<\/a> at the time. In June 2022, under the Biden administration, the Pride flag went up on federal land on the first day of Pride month. Soon after Donald Trump was re-elected in 2024, his administration eliminated<\/a> all references to transgender people from the National Park Service website for the Stonewall national monument. In June 2025, the Stonewall national monument excluded<\/a> transgender and progress flags from its Pride month display.<\/p>\n