What’s going on with the Pride flag at Stonewall National Monument

On February 7 2026, the Trump administration removed a large Pride flag from the Stonewall National Monument. The monument commemorates the 1969 riots that followed a police raid on the Stonewall Inn.

The Department of Interior, NPS’ parent agency, confirmed that the flag was removed in line with government-wide guidance. 

“Only the US flag and other congressionally or departmentally authorised flags are flown on NPS-managed flagpoles, with limited exceptions,” the statement partly read. 

On February 10, Manhattan Borough president Brad Hoylman-Sigal announced that he and other NYC-area politicians will reinstall the flag at the federal monument.

He said: “I think it’s important that we speak out and stand up for the community, frankly, just as our forebearers, who exhibited much more courage back in 1969.”

On February 12, the flag was re-raised. However, the ceremony didn’t go to plan. The flag could only be attached to a flagpole next to where it originally stood, meaning it was only flying at half-mast.

Those in attendance weren’t happy to settle for the compromise, and activists Jay W. Walker and Josh Tjaden reinstalled the Pride flag onto its original flagpole.

Walker told Gay City News: “Our elected officials, though I love them, brought in their own flagpole and planted it in the ground in front of it, and their plastic pole was lower than that flagpole, so it resulted in our Rainbow Flag being lower than [the American Flag] and not on the actual flagpole. 

“The least we could do is to put our flag higher on this cord than the American Flag.”

Following the Pride flag’s return, LGBTQ+ legal campaigners Lambda Legal announced they had filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on behalf of a coalition of activists and community members who argue the Trump administration’s removal of the flag was unlawful.

Filed to a US district court alongside the Washington Litigation Group, the suit urges the court to repeal the government’s order and reinstate the flag under the Administrative Procedure Act.

“The Pride flag at the Stonewall national Monument honours the history of the fight for LGBTQ+ liberation,” Douglas F Curtis, Lambda Legal’s chief legal advocacy officer, said. “It is an integral part of the story this site was created to tell.”

Now, members of the LGBTQ+ community are calling for the current flag to be replaced with the Progress Pride flag. 

Speaking to The Guardian about the re-raising of the Pride flag, trans woman Chloe Elentári told the outlet it was a “half measure”.

“I want the progress flag so that we’re all included.”

Trans playwright Mika Kauffman also criticised the decision to use the older, rainbow flag design.

“It just felt extremely performative because it wasn’t an inclusive pride flag,” Kauffman said, as quoted by the outlet.

“Like, where are the trans colours? Trans people are dying, Black trans women and Brown women are the reason that our rights exist in the first [place]. What are we doing here?”

“It’s really not just about the flag; it’s about the fact that lives are at stake,” Xaddy Addy, a Black trans person added.

“When you put up the Progress flag, that means you are advocating for every single person under the scope, under the umbrella.”