Trump admin removes rainbow flag from Stonewall, the birthplace of US gay rights movement
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani called it an ‘act of erasure’, while others described the move as an attack on the queer community
US President Donald Trump’s administration has removed a large rainbow Pride flag that flew over the Stonewall National Monument, which marks the birthplace of the modern gay rights movement in New York.
The National Park Service, the federal agency overseeing US national monuments, said that it managed the flagpole at the monument and that the flag had been removed to ensure a “long-standing policy” was applied consistently across its sites.
But some elected officials in New York said the flag’s removal from the Greenwich Village monument in downtown Manhattan was part of efforts by Trump, a Republican, to limit the rights of gay and transgender people.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a Democrat, said he was outraged and called it an “act of erasure.” Some officials have said they intend to raise another Pride flag on the now bare flagpole before the week is out.
The Park Service referred to guidance issued in 2023 that government-managed flagpoles are not “a forum for free expression by the public” a,nd that flags besides the US flag may be flown that are “an expression of the Federal Government’s official sentiments”.
The policy allows flags that provide historical context or are part of a “living history” programme.