New York lawmakers and LGBTQ+ advocates gathered in Greenwich Village on Sunday, calling for action to ensure the Pride flag can continue flying at the Stonewall National Monument after it was removed earlier this week.
The rainbow flag at Christopher Park, across from the historic Stonewall Inn, was taken down following guidance tied to the Trump administration. Community groups later raised the flag again, but advocates say that’s not enough and are pushing for permanent protections.
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Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced new legislation that would designate the Pride flag as a congressionally authorized flag, allowing it to be flown at federal sites like the Stonewall monument without being removed.
“It’s not a decoration. It’s a living symbol of struggle and resilience,” Schumer said during a rally at the park Sunday. “I am introducing legislation to designate the Pride flag as a congressionally authorized flag in America, and that means it can be flown here and everywhere else and no one, no one, can take it down.”
The Stonewall National Monument commemorates the 1969 uprising that began when police raided the Stonewall Inn, a nearby gay bar. The protests are widely considered the birthplace of the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement in the United States.
Advocates say removing the flag sends a troubling message about whose history is recognized at the site. “Its removal was an attack, it was to silence us, to make us invisible,” said Ken Kidd, from the Gilbert Baker Foundation. “They literally tried to steal our pride. The Stonewall uprising is American history.”
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Christopher Park is part of the Stonewall National Monument and is the only portion of the area controlled by the federal government. According to guidance from the National Park Service, flagpoles on federal land are “not intended to serve as a forum for free expression by the public,” but instead represent official federal sentiment.
When asked whether the Pride flag is “un-American,” one Sen. Schumer said the move to remove it reflects a broader effort to erase parts of the nation’s history.
“This administration tries to erase history, Black history, women’s history, Hispanic history, immigrant history, LGBTQ history,” the advocate said. “We’re not letting them do that.”
In addition to Schumer’s Senate bill, Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) has introduced similar legislation in the House. Still, some activists say federal legislation alone may not be enough.