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

Activists vow to keep restoring the Pride flag at the LGBTQ+ landmark after it was removed by the National Park Service.

Published on Feb. 12, 2026

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New York politicians defiantly raised a rainbow flag at the Stonewall National Monument in Greenwich Village, rebuking the Trump administration for removing the well-known symbol of LGBTQ+ pride from the landmark site. Activists vowed to keep restoring the flag if the National Park Service takes it down again, calling the removal a deliberate insult that compounds other recent changes they find objectionable.

Why it matters

The Stonewall Inn and surrounding park are considered the birthplace of the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement, after a 1969 police raid on the bar sparked an uprising. The raising of the Pride flag at the national monument was seen as an important acknowledgment of LGBTQ+ people's place and visibility in the nation, so its removal by the Trump administration is viewed as a symbolic attack on LGBTQ+ rights and progress.

The details

The rainbow flag had flown for several years on a flagpole in the park at the heart of the National Park Service-run Stonewall National Monument. After the flag was removed a few days ago, activists promptly raised it again on the same pole as the American flag. When the park service took it down again, local officials and LGBTQ+ advocates defiantly raised the flag once more, with the crowd chanting "Raise it Up!" The park service has cited federal guidance that largely restricts the agency to displaying the flags of the United States, the Department of the Interior and POW/MIA recognition.

  • The rainbow flag had flown for several years on a flagpole in the park.
  • The flag was removed by the National Park Service a few days ago.
  • On Thursday, local officials and activists raised the flag again in defiance.

The players

Brad Hoylman-Sigal

Manhattan Borough President and the first openly gay person elected to his position.

Jay Walker

An activist who helped secure the Pride flag's eventual spot at the monument.

Ken Kidd

An activist who aided early efforts to get the flag installed permanently.

Donald Trump

The former Republican president whose administration took aim at diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, including the removal of the Pride flag from the Stonewall National Monument.

Pete Hegseth

Trump's Defense Secretary who renamed a Navy ship that had been named for Harvey Milk, a slain gay rights activist.

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What they’re saying

“If you can't fly a Pride flag steps from Stonewall monument, at the National monument for LGBTQ liberation, where can you fly it? So we put it back.”

— Brad Hoylman-Sigal, Manhattan Borough President (thehour.com)

“We will keep doing this. Our community is not going to stand for our park, our flagpole, to be disrespected by the Trump administration.”

— Jay Walker, Activist (thehour.com)

“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 (thehour.com)

What’s next

Activists have vowed to keep restoring the Pride flag at the Stonewall National Monument if the National Park Service continues to remove it, setting up a potential ongoing confrontation with the federal agency.

The takeaway

The removal of the Pride flag from the Stonewall National Monument, a site considered the birthplace of the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement, is seen as a symbolic attack by the Trump administration on LGBTQ+ progress and visibility. The defiant raising of the flag by local officials and activists underscores the continued importance of the Stonewall site and the LGBTQ+ community's determination to protect its legacy.