The Pride Flag Flies Again at Stonewall Monument

The Pride flag is returning soon to the Stonewall National Monument, outside the historic Stonewall Inn on Christopher St. in Manhattan, following a hard-fought legal battle that pit LGBTQ+ advocates against the Trump administration.

The flag, a rainbow stripe design that is a symbol of pride, diversity and social movements, was taken down in February by a directive from the federal government.

“It’s a reminder that we can still win in the courts,” Stonewall Inn Co-Founder Stacy Lentz told Straus News.

The Stonewall National Monument is managed by the National Park Service (NPS), while the bar is privately run. The NPS removed the flag during the night of February 8 after the directive announced to prohibit any flag, aside from the U.S. flag or other “authorized” flags, from being flown on National Park Service-managed flagpoles. “It’s another way to erase us,” said Lentz.

When the employees of the Stonewall Inn arrived at work the next morning, they noticed the flag was gone. It was a deep blow for them, and Lentz noticed how it affected her peers. “For our community to have that taken down is horrific,” she said. Days later, there was a rally made up of nonprofit groups and community members to push back against the flag’s removal. Lentz continued to fly Pride flags in the bar, while the community flew their own Pride flag at the monument. “We were gonna keep putting that flag up no matter what.”

After months of court dates, the federal government agreed to settle the lawsuit that had been filed by the Gilbert Baker Foundation, Village Preservation and Equality New York, an advocacy organization. The lawsuit argued that the government was illegally targeting the LGBTQ+ community, rather than abiding by the law. Under the agreement, the NPS will hang the Pride flag below the U.S. flag, in accordance with the U.S. flag code.

“This was never just about the flag,” said Lentz. “This was another attempt by the administration to erase LGBTQ history and erase the birthplace where Pride began, which is absolute insanity that they thought would happen.”

The Pride flag’s removal from Stonewall is not the first act of discrimination advocates say they have seen from the Trump administration. They point to references to transgender people on the Stonewall National Monument’s website being removed by the National Park Service in February 2025. And during Pride Month, Harvey Milk, one of the country’s first openly gay elected officials, had his name stripped from a U.S. Navy ship by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Despite the constant threats on the federal level, the LGBTQ+ community is not backing down, and the return of the Pride flag to the Stonewall Monument is proof of that. Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal posted a video on X of him standing in front of the Pride flag at Stonewall with the caption: “Let’s be clear. The Trump administration blinked and Pride will permanently fly at Stonewall.”

For Lentz, the push for protecting the LGBTQ+ community is far from finished. “We need to keep fighting,” said Lentz. “We have to stick together because we cannot rely on the government to tell our stories and to talk about why we need everyone in this battle to keep those rights going.”