The Trump regime removed the Pride Flag flying at the first and only National Park dedicated to LGBTQ+ history.
The removal of the flag at Stonewall National Monument comes exactly one year after the National Park Service removed references to transgender and queer people from their webpages, including the page on Stonewall. The move is the latest in a string of removals and changes censuring information on signs and exhibits on public lands that has picked up pace in recent weeks.
National Park Service referenced a January 2026 memo from the Trump Administration as the justification for the flag’s removal. The memo states that NPS can only fly certain flags on lands managed by the Interior Department.
But other Trump executive orders and government memos are also driving these changes, including a list of words flagged in early 2025 for government agencies to limit or avoid (such as “transgender”) as well as a “review” of signs and exhibits at national parks and national monuments that come in conflict with Trump’s March 2025 executive order on “restoring truth and sanity to American History.”
Stonewall National Monument marks the site of a 1969 riot at Stonewall Inn that became a turning point in the movement for LGBTQ+ civil rights. Local residents organized a rally after word spread that the flags had been taken down.
The pride flag is a globally recognized symbol of the LGBTQ+ community, representing diversity, inclusivity, and hope. Since its inception in 1978, the flag has evolved through several major iterations to better reflect the diverse identities within the community.
“A rainbow flag still appears on a city-owned pole just outside the park, and smaller ones wave along its fence,” reports the Associated Press. “But advocates fought for years to see the banner fly high every day on federal property, and they saw it as an important gesture of recognition when the flag first went up in 2019.”
Jackie Ostfeld, campaign director with the Sierra Club’s Outdoors For All campaign, said: “Our public lands should reflect the full, honest story of America, not a sanitized version of history that excludes entire communities.”
In a press release responding to the news, Timothy Leonard, Northeast Program Manager for the National Parks Conservation Association said:
“Given the Department of Interior’s own guidance, the Pride flag is undoubtedly part of the living history and historical significance connected to Stonewall National Monument. And it should remain.”
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani contributed to what AP called “a chorus of condemnation.”
“I am outraged by the removal of the Rainbow Pride Flag from Stonewall National Monument,” Mamdani said in a statement. “New York is the birthplace of the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement, and no act of erasure will ever change, or silence, that history.”
“Our city has a duty not just to honor this legacy, but to live up to it. I will always fight for a New York City that invests in our LGBTQ+ community, defends their dignity, and protects every one of our neighbors — without exception,” he said.
Another demonstration is being planned.
New York Almanack is reporting on the Trump regime’s impacts, particularly in New York State, but we can’t do it without your help. Please support this work.
Photo: Rally at Stonewall National Monument following the removal of the site’s Pride Flag, January 11, 2026.
Source link
