Trump Admin Removes Pride Flag from Stonewall Nat’l Monument

The Trump administration has removed an LGBTQ Pride flag from the Stonewall National Monument in New York City — the United States’ first national monument to LGBTQ rights — following a directive restricting what kinds of flags can be flown at National Park sites, Piper Hudspeth Blackburn reported for CNN.

Acting Director Jessica Bowron signed the directive in January, with exceptions for historical flags, military flags, or flags of federally recognized Tribal nations within parks.

The removal is the latest change at the monument as the administration moves to alter displays at national parks across the country and impose President Donald Trump’s views on other US cultural and historical institutions.

According to a National Park Service memorandum, the agency prohibits “non-agency flags and pennants” other than the US flag or the Interior Department flag.

Acting Director Jessica Bowron signed the directive in January, with exceptions for historical flags, military flags, or flags of federally recognized Tribal nations within parks.

CNN has reached out to the Interior Department and the NPS, as well as a co-owner of the Stonewall Inn, for comment. Gay City News first reported the Pride flag’s removal.

In February 2025, the NPS removed references to transgender and queer people on its webpage for the monument, which covers the area around the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village.

The iconic gay bar is widely viewed as the birthplace of the modern LGBTQ rights movement in the US. It was the site of a 1969 police raid that sparked a fierce backlash from patrons and led to days of protests and skirmishes between LGBTQ rioters and police.

Former President Barack Obama designated the monument in 2016 during his second term.