The Trump administration has made the decision to continue displaying a rainbow Pride flag at the Stonewall National Monument. This move follows a reversal of a previous action in February when the flag was taken down. This decision comes as part of efforts to resolve a lawsuit initiated by LGBTQ+ and historic preservation organizations that aimed to prevent the removal of the flag. However, the agreement still requires judicial approval.
According to documents filed in court, both the Interior Department and the National Park Service have committed to keeping the Pride flag at the Stonewall site. The flag will only be taken down for reasons such as maintenance or other practical needs, ensuring its continued presence at this historically significant location.
As part of the agreement, the National Park Service is set to hoist three flags on the flagpole at the Stonewall Monument within a week. The Pride flag will be prominently situated between the U.S. flag and the Park Service flag, each measuring three feet by five feet.
The Pride flag has been at the center of debates surrounding President Donald Trump’s policies regarding the Stonewall site, which stands as the first national monument dedicated to LGBTQ+ history. This discussion extends to other historical sites as well.
The installation of the Pride flag in 2022 was the result of a prolonged campaign by activists who sought its daily presence at the park, which is managed by the National Park Service. This initiative was realized during the administration of President Joe Biden, underscoring the monument’s importance in celebrating LGBTQ+ pride and history.
After a yearslong campaign by activists who wanted the flag symbolizing LGBTQ+ pride to be flown daily inside the park service-run site, the banner was formally installed in 2022, during Democratic President Joe Biden ‘s tenure.
At the time, park service officials in New York called the display a sign of the government’s commitment to “telling the complex and diverse histories of all Americans.”
But in February, the park service removed the flag, in what the agency explained as compliance with federal guidance on flag displays. A Jan. 21 park service memo largely restricts the agency to displaying the U.S., Department of the Interior and POW/MIA flags, with exemptions that include providing “historical context.”
The park service insisted that the monument “remains committed to preserving and interpreting the history and significance of this site” through various exhibits and programs. But LGBTQ+ activists saw the flag’s removal as a targeted affront meant to diminish a site that is all about their fight for rights and visibility.
Advocates and some New York Democratic elected officials turned up soon after with another rainbow flag and – after some heated moments when the politicians seemed content to leave it on a separate, lower pole – raised it up alongside the U.S. flag that the park service had installed.
Democratic President Barack Obama created the Stonewall monument in 2016. The monument centers on a tiny park across the street from the Stonewall Inn, the gay bar where a 1969 police raid sparked an uprising and helped catalyze the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement.
After Trump, a Republican, returned to office last year, he took aim at diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and protections for transgender people. In one outcome of his policies, many references to transgender people were excised from the monument’s website and materials.
Trump’s administration similarly has put national parks, museums and landmarks under a messaging microscope, aiming to remove or alter materials that the government says are “divisive or partisan” or “inappropriately disparage Americans.”
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