Trump Administration Orders Removal Of Rainbow Flag From Stonewall National Monument
The rainbow flag at the Stonewall National Monument in New York has been taken down. This removal comes directly from the Trump administration, marking another tense moment between the federal government and the LGBTQIA+ community.
A symbol silenced.
The National Park Service (NPS) quietly removed the multicoloured flag from the federal flagpole in Christopher Park earlier this week. This site is widely considered the birthplace of the modern LGBTQIA+ rights movement. For many, seeing the flag fly on federal land was a major validation of our struggle and history. Now, the pole stands bare of the rainbow colours, leaving only the US flag, the Department of the Interior flag, and the POW/MIA flag.
This decision follows a directive issued on 21 January 2026. The memo restricts which flags can be flown on NPS-managed poles to ensure consistency across federal sites. However, activists view this compliance as a targeted erasure. Ann Northrop, an activist and co-host of the programme GAY USA, did not hold back her frustration.
“It is just a disgusting slap in the face,” Northrop said. “It is mind-blowing that they think they can excuse this and rationalize this.”
Bureaucracy or erasure.
The NPS maintains that this is simply a matter of following the new guidance. They stated that the Stonewall National Monument continues to preserve the site’s historic significance through exhibits and programmes. Yet, this is not the first time the administration has clashed with the monument’s symbols. Just last year, references to transgender people were scrubbed from the monument’s website.
Brad Hoylman-Sigal, the Manhattan Borough President and the first openly LGBTQIA+ person to hold the office, described the removal as “petty and vindictive.”
“On one level, removing a flag seems extremely, I guess, pedestrian,” Hoylman-Sigal noted. “But the symbolism of doing it here at Stonewall is what is so profoundly disappointing and frightening.”
The community fights back.
We have to ask, why is this happening now? The timing feels deliberate to many in the community. While the federal flagpole has been stripped, it is important to note that a rainbow flag still flies on a nearby city-owned pole just outside the park, and smaller flags remain along the fence. But the distinction matters. Advocates fought specifically to have the federal government recognise this space with the flag.
“That is why we have those flag-raisings,” Northrop added. “Because we wanted the national sanction to make it a national park.”
