Pride flag reinstated at Stonewall after it was removed by Trump administration

Days after the Trump administration oversaw the removal of a Pride flag from the Stonewall national monument, officials in New York City again raised the flag at the historic site.

A large crowd gathered near the Stonewall Inn in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village to see it return to the space where, in 1969, the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement was ignited. Nearly six decades ago, police raided the popular gay bar, and set off an uprising that, as the Library of Congress notes, would “fundamentally change the discourse surrounding LGBTQ+ activism” in the US.

But the flag was removed over the weekend in response to a recent memo from the interior department that stated only US flags, agency flags and the POW/MIA flag are allowed at parks, although there are some exceptions for flags that “provide historical context”. The agency said in a statement to the Guardian this week that “policy governing flag displays on federal property has been in place for decades”, and “recent guidance clarifies how that longstanding policy is applied consistently across NPS-managed sites”.

The move sparked outrage in the city, withZohran Mamdani, the mayor, calling it an “act of erasure”.

“This decision sends a deeply troubling message, one that shows the world that we are willing to sanitize and erase our history and the very values that make America great,” Julie Menin, the speaker of New York’s city council, and councilmembers Chi Ossé and Justin Sanchez wrote in a letter to the National Parks Service.

The city council on Thursday passed a resolution urging Congress to respect the history and significance of Stonewall and other national sites.

Hours later, New York officials returned a Pride flag to the mast at Stonewall where it flew alongside the American flag.

“The flag is up,” Brad Hoylman-Sigal, the Manhattan borough president, said in a post on social media. “The community should rejoice. We have prevailed. Our flag represents dignity and human rights.”

Jerry Nadler, a US congressman, was among the officials who helped hang the flag, the New York Times reported.

“We won’t let Trump erase LGBTQ+ history. Stonewall was a rebellion. Stonewall was a beginning. Today, Stonewall is a call to action once again,” Nadler said in a statement posted online. “I’m proud to be at Stonewall today as we re-raise the Pride flag. It’s flying once again.”

The removal of the flag marked the latest effort by the Trump administration to rewrite the country’s history by removing material the president and his allies find disagreeable from US national parks and museums. National Park Service workers recently removed panels about enslavement from the walls of the President’s House in Philadelphia in response to a presidential executive order.

In response to a query from the Guardian, the interior department fiercely criticized New York officials in a statement from an unnamed spokesperson, describing Thursday’s development as a “political stunt” and “distraction”.