Trump admin sued for Stonewall Pride flag removal

The Trump administration was sued Tuesday over the sudden removal of the Pride rainbow flag last week. Stonewall National Monument In New York City, the site of the 1969 uprising that sparked the gay rights movement in the United States.

caseIn the filing, filed by a group of LGBTQ+ advocates and a Greenwich Village community group, the federal government alleges that: Ministry of the Interior rules prohibit flying anything other than U.S. flags, DOI flags, and POW/MIA flags in national parks.

“In fact, the opposite is true: The policies that the government says require the removal of the Pride flag, [National Park Service] To fly other flags that provide historical context to national monuments — which is exactly what the NPS official said the Pride flag did at Stonewall for many years,” the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, a day after a federal judge in Philadelphia ordered the National Park Service to restore an exhibit at Independence National Historical Park that contains information about nine slaves who lived with President George Washington at the official presidential residence in Philadelphia in the 1790s.

The order will remain in effect pending the outcome of the city of Philadelphia’s lawsuit challenging NPS’s January removal of the display.

The Pride flag had been flying at Stonewall National Monument since 2022 after a flagpole was erected there.

The monument is located across from the Stonewall Inn; A police raid on the then underground gay bar in July 1969 saw resistance from patrons, followed by days of riots and protests.

“Before the 1960s, almost anything related to living authentically as a lesbian, bisexual, or gay person was illegal,” the memorial’s NPS page reads. “The Stonewall Uprising of June 28, 1969 was a turning point in the pursuit of civil rights and gave impetus to a movement.

The new lawsuit in Manhattan federal court called the flag’s removal on Feb. 9 a “textbook example of an arbitrary and capricious action.”

“This was not a careless mistake,” the lawsuit states. “The government has not removed other historic flags, particularly Confederate flags, from other national monuments. Meanwhile, the attack on Stonewall is the latest example of the Trump Administration’s long-standing efforts to target the LGBTQ+ community for discrimination and disparagement.”

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani on February 10 Publish on X“I am outraged that the Rainbow Pride Flag was removed from Stonewall National Monument,” he said.

“New York is the birthplace of the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement, and no amount of erasure can change or silence that history,” Mamdani said.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, said Sunday that he would introduce a bill that would make the “Pride Flag a congressionally authorized symbol.”

Schumer condemned President Donald Trump for removing the flag, calling it an attack on the LGBTQ community.

“We will not allow Donald Trump to mount a crusade against the LGBTQ community and rewrite history,” Schumer said in a post on X.

“Hundreds of families were left without power during this year’s severe cold weather in New York City, people were found dead in the streets, and garbage was piling up so high it was collapsing on city residents,” an Interior Department spokesperson told CNBC when asked about the case. he said.

“This is the New York City of Mayor Mamdani, Senator Schumer and the congressional delegation,” the spokesperson said. “It would be a better use of their time to work to eliminate the accumulation of trash on city streets, ensure there are no more preventable deaths, and keep the power on for the people of New York City.”

“This political spectacle shows how incompetent and misaligned New York City officials and New York congressional representatives are about the issues facing their city.”