Around 200 community members gathered near the Stonewall National Monument on Tuesday afternoon to protest the Trump administration’s removal of a large pride flag from the historic Greenwich Village site. 

The demonstration, co-organized by local activist groups including Gays Against Guns NY and Rise And Resist, began at 5 p.m. and lasted around one hour. Protesters held signs reading “BRING BACK OUR FLAGS!” and “YOU CAN’T ERASE OUR HISTORY” and waved pride flags while standing in the national Christopher Park, which sits in front of the monument. 

National Park Service officers discreetly removed the Stonewall monument’s symbolic pride flag over the weekend, in compliance with the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Jan. 21 memo that placed guidelines on flying “non-agency” flags in national parks. The alteration drew nationwide attention and criticism on Tuesday — including from Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal, who told Politico that local politicians plan to reraise the flag on Thursday. 

“Our community is outraged — they are attempting to erase the history of queer people, of black people, of brown people, of indigenous people all over the country,” Jay W. Walker, the president of Gays Against Guns NY, said in an interview with WSN. “They are demanding language changes. They are taking down plaques. They are doing everything they can to deny the real history of this country.”

In a statement to Gay City News, a park service spokesperson said the site’s historical significance would continue to be preserved through “exhibits and programs,” but that the pride flag had to be removed to ensure “consistency” with federal guidelines. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said that he was “outraged” by the flag’s removal in a Tuesday X post. 

Named for the site of the historic 1969 Stonewall riots, the Stonewall monument became a national monument in 2016 and is considered the first one dedicated to the LGBTQ+ community. In June 2025, the National Park Service omitted transgender and progress pride flags from the Stonewall monument’s annual Pride Month display for the first time, after the federal government removed references to transgender people on the Stonewall National Monument website last year. 

“He’s scapegoating the trans community and the gay community,” Chloe Elentari, who attended Tuesday’s demonstration, told WSN. “He’s taken another act of hate by removing the pride flag from the Stonewall Monument, which is ours, not his, and he can’t have it.”

The National Park Service and the Stonewall Inn did not immediately respond to WSN’s requests for comment.

Justin Yen contributed reporting.

Contact Jason Alpert-Wisnia and Zachary Karp at [email protected].