NYC Leaders Move to Restore Pride Flag at Stonewall After Trump’s Removal

New York City officials say they will re-raise the Pride flag at the Stonewall National Monument after the Trump administration ordered it removed under new federal flag restrictions.

Federal officials quietly removed the flag earlier this year after the Trump administration issued guidance in January limiting which flags may be displayed at sites managed by the National Park Service. The directive states that, in most cases, only the U.S. flag, the Department of the Interior flag, and the Prisoners of War flag may be flown in agency-maintained public spaces, with limited exceptions.

New York City officials plan to re-raise the Pride flag at the Stonewall National Monument in Manhattan this week, setting up a potential clash with the White House at the birthplace of the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement.

Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal said city and state leaders intend to raise the Pride flag again on Thursday at the West Village site.

“I think it’s important that we speak out and stand up for the community, frankly, just as our forebearers, who exhibited much more courage back in 1969,” Hoylman-Sigal said in an interview. “This is not a moment for our community to stand by idly as attempts to undermine our history are put forward by Trump and the federal administration.”

The Stonewall Inn was the site of protests in June 1969 after police raided the gay bar and arrested patrons. The uprising, led by transgender women, drag queens, and other queer New Yorkers, catalyzed a global movement for LGBTQ+ dignity and civil rights. While the inn remains privately owned, the park across the street, Christopher Park, is federal land within the national monument.

The Department of the Interior, which oversees the National Park Service, confirmed the flag’s removal in a statement.

“Under government-wide guidance, including General Services Administration policy and Department of the Interior direction, only the U.S. flag and other congressionally or departmentally authorized flags are flown on NPS-managed flagpoles, with limited exceptions,” the department said. “Any changes to flag displays are made to ensure consistency with that guidance.”

The move is the latest flashpoint in what advocates describe as a broader effort by the Trump administration to roll back diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives across federal agencies. In January, the administration removed exhibits on slavery at Philadelphia sites associated with the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. Last year, the administration also announced plans to reinstate a statue of Confederate general Albert Pike in Washington.

Hoylman-Sigal called the removal of the Pride flag “another outrage by the Trump administration directed at the LGBTQ community, whether it’s transgender youth or immigrants or queer people in general.”

Local officials quickly signaled support for restoring the flag. State Sen. Erik Bottcher wrote on social media that “we will not be erased, we will not be silenced, and the Pride flag will fly again.” U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer described the removal as “a deeply outrageous action that must be reversed right now,” adding, “that flag will return.”

An Interior spokesperson did not immediately respond to requests for comment regarding the city’s plans to reinstall the flag.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani and City Council Speaker Julie Menin also condemned the removal. Mamdani said he was “outraged,” while Menin called it “an attack on LGBTQ+ New Yorkers” and said, “we will not stand for it.” Menin co-signed a letter with co-chairs of the City Council’s LGBTQIA+ Caucus urging National Park Service acting Director Jessica Bowron to restore the flag immediately.

“Stonewall is a sacred ground in the history of civil rights in our country,” the letter states. “The Pride flag has long flown as a symbol of that struggle and of the resilience of a community that continues to fight for its basic rights.”

The area encompassing the Stonewall Inn, Christopher Park, and nearby streets became the nation’s first national monument dedicated to LGBTQ+ rights in June 2016. The designation was celebrated widely at the time.

Sam Biederman, who was chief of staff for the city parks department when the monument was established, said a similar dispute unfolded during Trump’s first term. Federal officials ultimately allowed the Pride flag to be flown within the monument’s boundaries so long as it was on a flagpole owned by the city.

“That first Trump administration had people in it who were capable of being shamed and feeling remorse,” Biederman said. “This one doesn’t seem to have that.”

Last year, references to transgender people were removed from the monument’s official webpage, prompting criticism from advocates who accused the administration of erasing the central role trans people played in the 1969 uprising. The site currently references “lesbian, gay, bisexual” people but omits mention of transgender people and broader queer identities.

Kei Williams, director of the advocacy organization The NEW Pride Agenda, described the removal of the Pride flag as part of a deliberate campaign to “whitewash Stonewall.”

“This is a deliberate, strategic campaign to erase us,” Williams said in a statement.

Despite the federal directive, Pride flags continue to fly at the privately owned Stonewall Inn and at the visitor center across the street, according to Brandon Wolf, national press secretary for the Human Rights Campaign.

“We will keep showing up at Stonewall, for each other, and being out and proud,” Wolf said in a statement. “There’s nothing the White House can do about that.”

Protests were planned this week in response to the flag’s removal, with city officials vowing to restore it. For many, the dispute is not only about a flagpole but about who gets to claim and define the history of Stonewall.

“Parks and public spaces are where we all meet as equals,” Biederman said. “So it really matters what things are named and what flags are there, and what monuments appear, and how they appear and how they’re cared for, and what history we’re honoring and remembering.”