NY Officials Raise Rainbow Flag at Stonewall in Rebuke of Trump Administration

The flag removal is seen as an attack on LGBTQ+ visibility and progress.

Published on Feb. 12, 2026

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New York politicians defiantly raised a rainbow flag at the Stonewall National Monument, rebuking the Trump administration for removing the symbol of pride from the LGBTQ+ landmark. The initial flag-raising was short-lived, with activists promptly taking it down and raising it again on the same pole as the American flag. Activists and officials see the flag's removal as a deliberate insult that compounds other recent changes they find objectionable, such as eliminating references to transgender people at the monument.

Why it matters

The Stonewall Inn and the surrounding Stonewall National Monument are highly symbolic sites for the LGBTQ+ rights movement, as the location of the 1969 police raid that sparked the Stonewall riots and helped catalyze the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement. The removal of the rainbow flag is seen as an attack on LGBTQ+ visibility and progress, coming amid the Trump administration's broader efforts to roll back diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

The details

After the National Park Service removed the rainbow flag that had flown for several years at the Stonewall National Monument, New York politicians and activists defiantly raised a new rainbow flag at the site. The initial flag-raising on a separate pole was short-lived, with activists promptly taking it down and raising it again on the same pole as the American flag. The park service has said it's complying with federal guidance on flags, but activists and officials see the removal as a deliberate insult that compounds other recent changes they find objectionable, such as eliminating references to transgender people at the monument.

  • The rainbow flag had flown for several years on a flagpole in the park at the Stonewall National Monument.
  • The initial rainbow flag-raising, on a pole brought to the park, was short-lived.
  • Activists promptly took down the rainbow flag and raised it again on the same pole as the American flag.

The players

Brad Hoylman-Sigal

Manhattan Borough President who helped raise the rainbow flag at the Stonewall National Monument.

Ken Kidd

An activist who aided early efforts to get the rainbow flag installed permanently at the Stonewall National Monument.

Zohran Mamdani

New York City Mayor.

Kathy Hochul

Governor of New York.

Chuck Schumer

U.S. Senate Democratic leader.

Kirsten Gillibrand

U.S. Senator from New York.

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What they’re saying

“We did it.”

— Brad Hoylman-Sigal, Manhattan Borough President

“The new Trump administration is literally stealing our pride, or attempting to. It is a form of identity theft, where they are truly trying to take away those symbols of what we stand for — those symbols of our history, those symbols of our progress, those symbols of our future.”

— Ken Kidd, Activist

What’s next

The park service has not answered specific questions about the Stonewall site and the flag policy, including whether any flags were removed from other parks.

The takeaway

The removal of the rainbow flag from the Stonewall National Monument is seen as a deliberate attack on LGBTQ+ visibility and progress, coming amid the Trump administration's broader efforts to roll back diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives across the government. The defiant raising of the flag by New York officials and activists is a symbolic rebuke of these actions.