On Monday, Feb. 9, the Rainbow Pride flag that flew above the Stonewall Monument in New York City was taken down by National Park authorities, at the behest of the Trump administration. After being questioned about the flag’s removal, the National Park Service stated that they were following federal guidelines issued on Jan. 21.
Located in the center of the tiny park in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village. The first and only LGBTQ+ monument can be seen across from the Stonewall Inn, where the riots that later came to be known as the Stonewall Uprising occurred across six days beginning June 28 and continued through July 3, 1969. The flag was permitted to fly on Federal property beginning in June, 2021, and has served as an important reminder to patrons and the surrounding community about the fight by earlier generations for LGBTQ+ visibility and safety.
When park services were questioned by USAToday as to why it was taken down, they said, “With limited exceptions, only the U.S flag and other authorized flags are permitted on flagpoles managed by the agency.” Exceptions are flags of historical context, current military branches and federally recognized tribal nations.
Though rainbow flags wave outside businesses and city-owned fences, advocates fought for the flag to fly on federal property. The flag was added to the monument in 2019 as a symbol of the federal government acknowledging the queer community.
Hundreds of people gathered in the area Feb. 10 to protest the removal of the flag in the park and on social media. Stonewall Inn owner, Stacy Lentz, was surprised by the flag’s disappearance and explained the importance of speaking up. “We cannot allow the government to erase a historical fact,” she said.
Just two days later on Feb. 12, New York City officials and activists reinstated the Pride flag at the Stonewall National Monument. Despite the Trump administration and National Park Service’s removal, outrage and accusations of erasure from LGBTQ+ advocates saw local leaders and community members come together in direct retaliation to federal attempts to restrict the display of LGBTQ+ symbols at recognized historic sites.
A protester agreed with Lentz and told USA Today: “Right now, we need to speak up for one another. Right now it’s just a flag, soon they’ll tear down Stonewall [and] tear down the monument.”
Manhattan Borough President, Brad Hoylan-Sigal, also expressed his disapproval as an openly LGBTQ+ elected official, “on one level, removing a flag seems extremely, I guess, pedestrian.” The Manhattan representative continues, “but the symbolism of doing it here at Stonewall is what is so profoundly disappointing and frightening.”
Not only does he worry about his visibility, but also the visibility of his family. Married with two kids, he wonders how his children feel about the event. “It’s deeply troubling because…What are they supposed to think? That the president of the United States doesn’t want their family represented in a national Landmark?”
But it doesn’t stop there.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), along with Representative Daniel Goldman (D-NY) announced legislation on Feb. 15, to protect and permanently authorize the display of the LGBTQ Pride flag at the Stonewall National Monument. The bill aims to classify the flag as federally authorized because of its placement and historic significance.
And if you think that’s all going on in the fight to keep the Rainbow Pride flag in place at the Stonewall Monument, you’d be wrong.
On Feb. 17, a coalition of LGBTQ+ advocates and community groups, including the Gilbert Baker Foundation, Equality New York and Village Preservation sued the Trump administration in federal court for the removal of the Pride flag.
Represented by Lambda Legal and the Washington Litigation Group, the plaintiffs argue the move was an “arbitrary and capricious” act based on anti-LGBTQ+ animus and in violation of existing policies that allow for historical context flags
As of this writing, there has been no official response from the Trump administration.