The LGBTQ+ community has strongly condemned new federal guidelines under the Trump administration after a large Pride flag was removed from the Stonewall National Monument in New York City — prompting an emotional protest rally at the historic site.
The rally took place on Tuesday afternoon outside the monument, just days after the Pride flag was taken down from a flagpole in the park opposite the Stonewall Inn.
The removal followed the release of new federal guidance outlining which flags may be flown at national parks. Under a memo issued by the administration, properties managed by the National Park Service and the U.S. General Services Administration are restricted to flying only the U.S. flag, Department of the Interior flags, and the POW/MIA flag.
“Flagpoles and buildings under federal jurisdiction are not intended to serve as a forum for free expression by the public,” the memo stated.
The Stonewall National Monument, which falls under this jurisdiction, was directly affected by the change.
‘Standing Up to Defend Our Flag, Our Park, Our History’
The Stonewall National Monument commemorates the June 28, 1969 police raid on the Stonewall Inn — and the six days of resistance that followed, when trans, gay, lesbian and queer people fought back against decades of harassment.
The uprising is widely recognised as the birthplace of the modern U.S. LGBTQ+ rights movement.
Volunteer caretakers noticed the Pride flag had been removed late Monday night. When community members arrived on Tuesday, they also discovered the park gates had been locked, forcing protesters to gather at the entrance to ensure the rally could proceed.
The protest echoed similar outrage from a year earlier, when the Trump administration removed references to transgender and queer people from the monument’s official website — shortening the acronym from LGBTQ+ to LGB.
Tuesday’s rally centred on what organisers described as “defending our flag, our park, and our history.”
‘We Will Not Be Erased’
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he was “outraged” by the removal.
“New York is the birthplace of the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement, and no act of erasure will ever change or silence that history,” he said.
“Our city has a duty not just to honour this legacy, but to live up to it.”
City Council Member Erik Bottcher, who represents the Stonewall district, called the move a deliberate attempt to intimidate.
“This is a cowardly attempt to rewrite history,” he said.
“Stonewall is where we fought back, and we are not going backwards.
We will not be erased, we will not be silenced — and the Pride flag will fly again.”
‘These Colours Don’t Run’
National LGBTQ+ organisations also condemned the flag’s removal.
National LGBTQ Task Force spokesperson Cathy Renna said:
“Removing the rainbow flag from Stonewall again makes a target of sacred ground for our community — another attempted act of erasure by an administration that has relentlessly attacked LGBTQ+ people since day one.”
Human Rights Campaign National Press Secretary Brandon Wolf added:
“Bad news for the Trump administration: these colours don’t run.
The Stonewall Inn and Visitors Centre are privately owned — their flags are still flying high.”
“This administration is obsessed with trying to suffocate the joy and pride Americans have for their communities.
But they will fail.”
As protesters gathered beneath locked gates, the message from the community was unmistakable: Stonewall’s legacy cannot be erased — and Pride will not be silenced.
