Defying Trump, NYC electeds restore pride flag at Stonewall National Monument

MANHATTAN (CN) — New York City officials on Thursday hoisted a pride flag at the historic Stonewall National Monument in Greenwich Village in defiance of the Trump administration, which quietly removed one from the national park earlier this week.

The controversial move came after the U.S. Department of the Interior sent a memo to the National Park Service, enforcing a government directive requiring the agency to only fly the United States flag, the Department of the Interior flag and the Prisoners of War flag in federally maintained parks.

In response, city electeds including Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams marched into the jam-packed West Village park on Thursday afternoon and raised a large pride flag to be flown alongside the American flag that had replaced it just a day prior. 

“Our community is not going to stand by idly as the Trump administration tries to erase our history,” Hoylman-Sigal said in a social media video earlier that day, inviting New Yorkers to join him at the park to protest the administration. “Whether it's trans youth or queer adults, we stand united.”

But cheers turned to jeers when some protesters demanded that the officials take down the U.S. flag and hoist the rainbow flag on the same pole — rather than merely zip-tying the LGBTQ+ symbol to fly alongside it as the electeds had done.

“Take it down!” the crowd shouted. Some shouted “cowards” at the politicians.

As the city officials filed out of the park, one activist hopped the fence and bolted towards the flagpole to fly the pride flag higher, prompting a roar from the crowd. Hoylman-Sigal hung back in a seeming bid to stop her, but onlookers pelted him with snowballs. 

By the end of the ceremony, the pride flag was on the main flagpole, flying just a few inches higher than the American flag. 

A spokesperson for the Department of the Interior told Courthouse News that Thursday’s ceremony was a “political stunt” and a “distraction” from the city’s response to historic winter weather.

“Today's political pageantry shows how utterly incompetent and misaligned the New York City officials are with the problems their city is facing,” the spokesperson said. “Again, all government agencies follow longstanding federal flag policy that has been in place for decades.”

The agency insisted that its actions were backed up by U.S. Flag Code.

“Recent adjustments to flag displays at the monument were made to ensure consistency with federal guidance,” the spokesperson continued. “Stonewall National Monument remains committed to preserving and interpreting the history and significance of this site through its exhibits, programs, and educational initiatives.”

The government’s decision to remove the Stonewall flag sparked widespread condemnation this week. The Stonewall National Monument is the sole national park dedicated to the LGBTQ+ community, many of whom saw the act as a targeted attack by the government. 

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in a statement on Tuesday that he was “outraged.”

“New York is the birthplace of the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement, and no act of erasure will ever change, or silence, that history,” Mamdani said. “Our city has a duty not just to honor this legacy, but to live up to it.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer also decried the sudden lowering of the flag, saying Monday it was “a deeply outrageous action that must be reversed” and vowing to return it.

The flagpole that once bore the iconic rainbow banner sat bare for several days. Wednesday morning, a photographer at amNewYork spotted a National Park Service worker start to raise the U.S. flag in its place. But video shows the federal employee threatened the reporter when she discovered she was being filmed, then walked off without replacing the flag. 

The American flag appeared to be raised later that day.

Widely recognized as the birthplace of the modern gay rights movement, the monument is located at Sheridan Square across the street from a historic gay bar for which the landmark was named. It was there that the Stonewall Riots, prompted by a series of police raids at the bar, kickstarted nationwide activism in the late 1960s. 

At the time, the Stonewall Inn was one of relatively few gay bars in New York City. Unable to obtain a liquor license, it operated as a private club run by the Genovese crime family and became a popular hangout for gay men and drag queens. 

In 2016, former President Barack Obama designated more than seven acres of space — encompassing the bar, the park and nearby streets and sidewalks — to be a national monument.

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