Trump Administration Removes Pride Flag From Stonewall National Monument (but the Stonewall Inn is still in private hands)

 When a national monument is designated around a private business in a liberal state, the ability of the President to alter its message is  at least partially circumscribed.

Trump Administration Removes Pride Flag From Stonewall National Monument  The enduring symbol of LGBTQ+ liberation has been taken down from the historic site.
By James Factora and Quispe López  February 10, 2026 

 

 

 "Manhattan borough president Brad Hoylman-Sigal told the New York Times that the directive to remove the Pride flag came from the Trump administration. The monument itself was designated in 2016 to honor the origin of Pride in the United States, and was also the first U.S. national monument dedicated to LGTBTQ+ rights.

"But like the 1969 rebellion that cemented Stonewall into history books, queer and trans people are not taking it without a fight. While the park and monument across from the original Stonewall Inn is now a federal park, the business itself is private property.

“Bad news for the Trump Administration: these colors don’t run,” Human Rights Campaign Press Secretary Brandon Wolf said in a statement. “The Stonewall Inn & Visitor’s Center is still privately owned, their flags are still flying high, and that community is just as queer as it was yesterday. While their policy agenda throws the country into chaos, the Trump administration is obsessed with trying to suffocate the joy and pride that Americans have for their communities.”

##########

N.Y.C. Officials Reinstate Pride Flag at Stonewall After Federal Removal   By Liam Stack and Olivia BensimonUpdated Feb. 13, 2026, 2:40 a.m. ET

"A group of New York elected officials gathered on Thursday to replace the Pride flag that was removed from the Stonewall National Monument after a directive from the Trump administration, mounting a defiant response to the government’s assault on diversity initiatives at a federal site honoring the L.G.B.T.Q. rights movement.

"The plan to re-raise the flag in the center of the small park outside the historic Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village had been widely publicized on social media, and hundreds of spectators cheered as its rainbow colors made their way back up the flagpole under a cloudy winter sky."