{"id":132108,"date":"2026-02-13T03:37:24","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T03:37:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/132108\/"},"modified":"2026-02-13T03:37:24","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T03:37:24","slug":"advocates-bring-pride-flag-back-to-stonewall-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/132108\/","title":{"rendered":"Advocates bring Pride flag back to Stonewall"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Pride flag is back up at Stonewall National Monument, at least for now.<\/p>\n

LGBTQ+ community members told NY1 that the flag symbolizes freedom, equality and resistance. They also mentioned that they\u2019re standing united against what they view as an attack by the Trump administration on the gay community.<\/p>\n

What You Need To Know<\/p>\n

The Pride flag is back up at Stonewall National Monument, at least for now. Advocates re-raised the flag without the White House\u2019s approval Thursday afternoon
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The Pride flag was quietly removed this week after a directive from the White House, which ordered that only U.S. flags and other authorized flags can be flown at National Park Service locations
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In a statement, a U.S. Department of the Interior spokesperson wrote: “Today’s political pageantry shows how utterly incompetent and misaligned the New York City officials are with the problems their city is facing…Recent adjustments to flag displays at the monument were made to ensure consistency with federal guidance. Stonewall National Monument remains committed to preserving and interpreting the history and significance of this site through its exhibits, programs, and educational initiatives”
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The department also wrote in a statement that it\u2019s going to continue to adhere to the existing rules and not make exceptions for Stonewall<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m happy to see the Pride flag being put back up,\u201d Michael Hisey, who has been an activist for more than 40 years, said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel very grateful and very lucky to have been here,\u201d Elisa Michel, a protester, said, adding that Stonewall and this community make her feel safe.<\/p>\n

The Pride flag was quietly removed on Tuesday<\/a> after a directive from the White House, which ordered that only U.S. flags and other authorized flags can be flown at National Park Service locations.<\/p>\n

The move angered activists who saw the removal as a symbolic swipe at the country\u2019s first national monument to LGBTQ+ history.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is petty, but we\u2019re not going anywhere. I mean, it\u2019s 2026,\u201d Charlie Sprinkman, a protester, said.<\/p>\n

Advocates re-raised the Pride flag without the White House\u2019s approval on Thursday afternoon.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is New York. We\u2019re all [a] melting pot. And everyone here, I think, everyone loves each other. And I think New York, it just always sets an example for everyone,\u201d Khaled Eldsluki, another protester, said.<\/p>\n

Sprinkman, who recently moved to the city from Wisconsin, said this is a powerful moment for the community to come together.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a queer business owner, I mean, we all look at Stonewall as a movement that allows us to run our businesses today as out queer business owners,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

A rally earlier in the day with elected officials and other allies gathered in support of reinstating the Pride flag.<\/p>\n

NY1 reached out to the Trump administration for a comment.<\/p>\n

In a statement, a U.S. Department of the Interior spokesperson wrote: \u201cToday\u2019s political pageantry shows how utterly incompetent and misaligned the New York City officials are with the problems their city is facing…Recent adjustments to flag displays at the monument were made to ensure consistency with federal guidance. Stonewall National Monument remains committed to preserving and interpreting the history and significance of this site through its exhibits, programs, and educational initiatives.\u201d<\/p>\n

LGBTQ+ advocates and allies vow to continue fighting for equality.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is sacred ground, this is our park. It\u2019s a federally designated park by [former President Barack]\u00a0Obama in 2016, but it\u2019s still our park,\u201d Hisey said. \u201cEverybody from around the world comes here as a tourist, to see this park, to see the Pride flag, to see the statues, and just be at Stonewall where everything happened for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a statement, the U.S. Department of the Interior also said it\u2019s going to continue to adhere to the existing rules and not make exceptions for Stonewall.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Pride flag is back up at Stonewall National Monument, at least for now. LGBTQ+ community members told…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":132074,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[25,75,84,83,9,24,12,6019,63,27,200],"class_list":["post-132108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-app-top-stories","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-headlines","tag-manhattan-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-news","tag-noorulain-khawaja","tag-nyc","tag-top-stories","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132108\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/132074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}