‘We will not be erased’. Stonewall pride flag raised in defiance of Trump edict

NEW YORK – In defiance of a Trump administration edict, New York City officials and activists raised the rainbow Pride flag again on Feb. 12 at the Stonewall National Monument, the birthplace of the LGBTQ+ rights movement, after it was removed over the weekend by the National Park Service.

Located across from the historic Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, the national civil rights monument was established in 2016 by former President Barack Obama.

One attendee attempted to pull down the adjacent U.S. flag, as some chanted “take it down” and “burn the American flag.” Others chanted “we will not be erased.”

The local elected officials left immediately after the pride flag was raised and did not give speeches.

Participants also briefly considered raising a “Progress Flag,” which includes stripes in an arrow shape, representing members of the transgender community and communities of color, as well as those living with AIDS, on top of the traditional LGBTQ+ rainbow flag.

One day before the planned re-raising of the flag, the NPS installed an American flag on the flagpole.

When the elected officials arrived on Thursday, they brought a flagpole with them, which they tied to the existing flagpole and raised Pride flag. The new flagpole was shorter in height and the Pride flag flew below the American flag.

The activists were not happy.

“So it ended up being with the American flag overshadowing our flag, and our community was incensed,” said Jay Walker, an activist who is the co-founder of the Queer Liberation March and the president of Gays Against Guns.

A few of them, including Walker, took it upon themselves to remove both flags and join them together with plastic zip ties, while raising the Pride flag slightly higher than the stars and stripes.

The event drew approximately 1,000 spectators and participants.

Shep Wahnon, who was at the event, said it makes sense for a gay Pride flag to be in a gay monument that the federal government recognizes as a significant place for American history.

“The way the whole thing went down was pretty dramatic,” said Wahnon, an actor. “Gays have a sense of flare and drama.”

‘The federal government is bullying trans people’

Chloe Elantari, a transgender woman who lives in the East Village, arrived at the 0.12-acre Christopher Park around noon, hours before the planned re-hoisting of the flag at 4 p.m.

“I’m here because the federal government is bullying trans people by taking our flag away to distract from the heinous crimes that everybody at every level of government has been committing against children,” Elantari said, referencing the Jeffrey Epstein files. “They are scapegoating us. They are blaming us.”

Elantari, a crisis counselor, came prepared for the day’s events.

“I brought my flag and I put my flag up here,” she said, pointing to a blue, pink and white striped trans flag which she had tied to a tree. “Because our colors need to fly here at Stonewall.”

Elantari and other activists say they see the flag removal as the latest assault on the rights of transgender people by the Trump administration, which has has taken steps to restrict access to gender-affirming care for minors and limit recognition of transgender identities in federal and military spaces.

Trump has also cut federal funding, blocking Medicaid and Medicare from being used for gender-affirming care and issued an executive order saying the federal government will only recognize two sexes: male and female. Another executive order prohibited transgender girls and women from competing in female sports.

More: Stonewall veterans sound alarm over Trump’s attempt to erase trans history

The Stonewall Uprising of 1969 was a turning point in the quest for civil rights for LGBTQ+ people. It began with a police raid on a neighborhood bar popular with the gay community that led patrons to fight back after decades of discrimination and harassment.

“History will not be erased,” Brad Hoylman-Sigal, the Manhattan borough president, announced on Instagram after the National Park Service removed the rainbow Pride flag from the site.

On Jan. 21, the Department of the Interior issued guidance about the display and flying of “non-agency flags and pennants” in the national park system. Exemptions noted in the memo include flags that “provide historical context, such as earlier versions of the U.S. flag at a historic fort.”

Two weeks later, a rainbow flag that flew from the nautical flagpole at Christopher Park was gone. One day before the planned re-raising of the flag, the park service flew an American flag from the nautical flagpole.

The White House did not comment on the removal of the flag, saying only that it was “deferring” to the Department of the Interior.

Stonewall National Monument is a 7.7-acre site established by presidential proclamation in 2016. The monument encompasses both public and private property, including the privately owned Stonewall Inn, portions of the New York City street network, and Christopher Park, which was donated to the federal government by the City of New York, according to a fact sheet from the National Park Service.

At its dedication on June 24, 2016, Obama said, “Stonewall will be our first national monument to tell the story of the struggle for LGBT rights.”

The Pride flag was first flown at the site when President Donald Trump was in office in 2018. During Pride month, a community volunteer reached out to the National Park Service asking if he could fly a Pride flag for the month. It was approved.

But when the volunteer, Steven Love Menendez, who is known in the community as the site’s “caretaker” asked the NPS for permission to fly the flag for the rest of the year, he was denied the request.

“The park had the status of being a national landmark. But inside the park, nothing had changed visually,” Menendez told USA TODAY of his thinking. “It just looked like the same park that it was before it was a monument.”

During the Biden administration, Menendez made the request again. This time, he was “surprised” by the NPS, which agreed not only to install a new flagpole but also ordered a new rainbow flag with the NPS logo. The Pride flag flew continuously beginning in Feb. 2021, soon after Biden’s inauguration – until last week.

“It has so much significance to the community, young and old. It’s very sad and callous and hateful for that flag to have been removed. It wasn’t necessary, you know?” said Menendez.

“That flagpole was put up there for the sole purpose of displaying the rainbow flag,” said Walker.

“They stole our flag,” Walker added, referring to the National Park Service.

“The reality is that that entire garden area, before it was designated a national landmark, those have been tended to by members of the community,” he said. “Since Donald Trump has been in office the second time, he has just encroached again and again. First, he changed the hours, from open until 8 p.m. to open until 5 pm. Now this.”

“We as a city and as a state are going to have to come up with some other solutions,” said Walker. “To snatch it back from the federal government.”

In the meantime, Walker said many of his friends had placed orders for several Pride flags to make sure it will continue to have presence in the park.

“Because they fully expect for the government to try to take this down there,” he said. “Whatever they do, we will make sure that a rainbow flag remains on that flagpole and high up on that flagpole.”

Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy is a White House Correspondent for USA TODAY. You can follow her on X @SwapnaVenugopal

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Pride flag at Stonewall raised again after removal