Stonewall Rally to Restore Pride Flag

Local New York City lawmakers and activists gathered on Thursday morning to protest the National Park Service's replacement of Stonewall's Pride flag with the American flag.

By way of a Trump administration directive, a January 21 Department of the Interior memo said only the American flag or other department approved flags are allowed to fly at national sites.

“No matter how many times you take down the flags, we will place it with more flags,” said State Assemblyman Tony Simone of New York’s 75th District. “There will be a day after Donald Trump, so MAGA needs to realize that we’ve been here before. We’ll come back, we’ll fight.”

“What this was was an actual act or an attempt at erasure, a silencing or a pushing aside, a casting aside of community,” said Council Member Justin Sanchez.

In June 1969, a police raid at the gay bar, Stonewall Inn, led to protests which sparked the LGBTQ+ movement in the United States. Now the site commemorates the birth of that movement.

“The administration is trying to erase Black history, Indigenous history, Latine history, queer history from national park sites and heritage sites all over this country,” said Jay W. Walker, the co-founder of the non-profit Queer Liberation March and president of the non-profit Gays Against Guns.

Walker said taking the rainbow Pride flag down is not just about limiting queer rights but also sanitizing and whitewashing history.

President Trump said that he wants to restore “truth and sanity” to American history in a 2025 executive order. The federal government removed a slavery exhibit in Philadelphia and took down signage about climate change at Muir Woods in California. These are just some of the monuments across the country altered or removed by the National Park Service under the current administration.

Council Member Sanchez sent a letter to Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Governor Kathy Hochul and said he is excited to see “where those conversations lead” after both confirmed receipt of the letter. New York City officials returned to Stonewall on Thursday to raise the Pride flag again, without approval from the National Parks Service.