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If you walked past the Stonewall National Monument this week and noticed something missing, you weren’t imagining it. The large Pride flag that had flown inside the federally managed park disappeared after a new directive from President Donald Trump's administration tightened rules around which flags can fly at National Park Service sites—sparking protests, political pushback and plans to put it right back up.
The key detail: Stonewall National Monument isn’t run by New York City. The small park across from the Stonewall Inn is part of the National Park Service, which means federal policy ultimately controls what happens on its flagpoles.
In January, the Department of the Interior issued guidance stating that most NPS-managed poles may display only the American flag and other flags authorized by Congress or the department, with limited exceptions. The agency said “changes to flag displays are made to ensure consistency with that guidance.” That’s why federal employees removed the Pride flag, not because the city voted to take it down.
The flag itself has a surprisingly complicated history. When the monument was designated in 2016, the Pride flag wasn’t initially a permanent fixture. During Trump’s first term, the Park Service briefly installed one and then backed away after determining the pole was actually on city land. Later, during then President Joe Biden's administration, the agency installed its own Pride flag inside the park—the first long-term rainbow flag on federal property there—which is the one removed this week.
Local leaders have framed the move as symbolic. Council Speaker Julie Menin said the flag “was taken in the middle of the night,” at a Thursday news conference, adding, “There was no discussion. There was no warning. It was taken.” Others have promised to reinstall it quickly. Councilmember Chi Ossé, a co-chair of the City Council’s LGBTQIA+ caucus, told reporters, “The most Stonewall thing that we could possibly do is put that flag back up ourselves instead of waiting for the president.”
So can the city actually do that? Sort of and that’s where things get tricky. Officials say they plan to raise a Pride flag alongside the American flag rather than replace it to avoid violating federal rules outright, according to the New York Times. But because the monument is federal land, the National Park Service could remove it again if it’s deemed out of compliance.
Meanwhile, Pride flags continue to fly nearby on private and city-controlled poles, including at the Stonewall Inn itself, which the federal government can’t regulate in the same way.
For now, the situation remains a live standoff between federal policy and local defiance. But what happens next may depend less on symbolism and more on where the flag actually flies and who technically owns the pole.