Trump administration removes Pride flag from monument to gay rights movement

"Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal (D) said in a social media post late Monday that the flag had been removed over the weekend. Holyman-Sigal said he traced the decision to a Jan. 21 federal order by the Interior Department, which oversees the National Park Service. The order states that Park Service property should fly only the U.S. flag or those depicting official government logos."

"The Stonewall Inn became the center of the gay rights movement after a riot erupted following a 1969 police raid at the Greenwich Village bar. Demonstrations continued for several days, as groups coalesced to form a nascent gay rights movement. A year later, the nation's first gay pride march was held in New York, a celebration that spread to numerous cities throughout the 1970s. By the later part of the decade, gay rights activists had adopted a multicolored flag as a symbol of their movement."

The rainbow-colored Pride flag was removed from a flagpole outside Stonewall National Monument, and the action was traced to a Jan. 21 Interior Department order limiting Park Service flag displays to the U.S. flag or official government logos. Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal and other local leaders expressed outrage and vowed the Pride flag would be raised again. Stonewall became the center of the gay rights movement after a 1969 police raid and subsequent riots, leading to the first gay pride march a year later and adoption of the multicolored flag during the 1970s. Eight acres around Stonewall became a national monument in 2016, and a privately funded visitors center opened in 2024. The National Park Service said the flag policy has been in place for decades and that recent guidance clarifies consistent application across NPS-managed sites, with changes made to ensure consistency with that guidance.

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