Trump administration removes Rainbow Flag from Stonewall National Monument

Source: Gay City News

New York City
Trump administration removes Rainbow Flag from Stonewall National Monument

By Matt Tracy
Posted on February 9, 2026


Miss Simone (left) watches Shirley McKinney and Steven Love Menendez lift the Rainbow Flag up into the air at Christopher Park in 2022 -- back when the Biden administration allowed the flag to go up, complete with black and brown stripes and the colors of the Trans Flag.
Donna Aceto

The Trump administration removed a large Rainbow Flag from a flagpole at the Stonewall National Monument, the National Park Service confirmed to Gay City News on Feb. 9, representing the president's latest attack on the queer community at the birthplace of the modern LGBTQ rights movement.

Gay City News contacted the National Park Service on the evening of Feb. 9 to inquire about why the Rainbow Flag was removed from the Stonewall National Monument, which sits at Christopher Park near the Stonewall Inn and was designated as a national monument by former President Barack Obama in 2016.

"Under government-wide guidance, including General Services Administration policy and Department of the Interior direction, only the US flag and other congressionally or departmentally authorized flags are flown on NPS-managed flagpoles, with limited exceptions," a spokesperson for the National Park Service told Gay City News on the evening of Feb. 9. "Any changes to flag displays are made to ensure consistency with that guidance. Stonewall National Monument continues to preserve and interpret the site's historic significance through exhibits and programs."

The flag's removal comes more than eight years after the first Trump administration cancelled a plan to dedicate a Rainbow Flag at the monument by arguing that the flagpole was on city land, not federal land -- a widely-criticized move that marked the beginning of a years-long effort by activists to preserve the flag's presence in the park. During the Biden administration, Steven Love Menendez, a caretaker of the flags at the park, worked with activist Michael Petrelis to successfully convince the federal government to allow a Rainbow Flag to rise on federal land at the park.

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Read more: https://gaycitynews.com/trump-rainbow-flag-stonewall-national-monument/

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I should point out that Stonewall happened in June 1969, and the rainbow flag made its first appearance in June 1978. The rainbow flag was not around at the time of Stonewall.

Wed Jun 25, 2025
On this day, June 25, 1978, the rainbow flag appeared in a parade for the first time.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/11637356

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_flag_(LGBTQ)
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Reposted by Meat And Ferments Hat
https://bsky.app/profile/kenwhite.bsky.social

They have now removed the Pride flag from the Stonewall Inn.

Erasure. Just like the Nazis.

gaycitynews.com/trump-rainbo...

— Michelangelo Signorile (@msignorile.bsky.social) 2026-02-10T05:12:50.769Z

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Michelangelo Signorile
‪@msignorile.bsky.social‬

They have now removed the Pride flag from the Stonewall Inn.

Erasure. Just like the Nazis.

https://gaycitynews.com/trump-rainbow-flag-stonewall-national-monument/

Trump administration removes Rainbow Flag from Stonewall National Monument
The Trump administration removed a large Rainbow Flag from a flagpole at the Stonewall National Monument, the National Park Service confirmed to Gay City News
gaycitynews.com
12:12 AM · Feb 10, 2026
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