LGBTQ groups sue Trump admin over removal of Pride flag from Stonewall National Monument

The suit was brought forth by a Greenwich Village community group and a group of LGBTQ advocates against the US Department of the Interior and its secretary Doug Burgum, the National Park Service and acting director Jessica Bowron, and Superintendent of Manhattan Sites Amy Sebring.

The site was established in 2016 to commemorate the Stonewall Riots of 1969 at a gay bar named the Stonewall Inn, with a flagpole being installed in the park in 2022 to fly a Pride flag. On February 9, the flag was removed.

"The government claims the removal is necessary to comply with NPS and Department of the Interior (DOI) official policies that purportedly prohibit the flying of anything but the United States flag, DOI flags, and the POW/MIA flags in national parks. The NPS and DOI policies, however, require no such thing," the lawsuit stated, calling the move an "arbitrary and capricious action."

It stated that under a January 21, 2026 directive from the Department of the Interior ordering that "only the US Flag, flags of the DOI, and the POW/MIA flag will be flown by the NPS in public spaces where the NPS is responsible for the upkeep, maintenance, and operation of the flag and flagpole," an exemption is included that allows "non-agency flags and pennants" to be flown within National Park System lands if they provide "historical context."

NPS said that it had removed the flag to comply with the directive, stating that "only the US flag and other congressionally or departmentally authorized flags are flown on N.P.S.-managed flagpoles, with limited exceptions."

The suit noted that in the days following its removal, citizens undertook an unofficial flag raising, zip-tying the Pride flag to the American flag that had been installed. "Following the raising of the unofficial Rainbow Pride Flag, DOI said in a statement that the raising of the unofficial Pride flag amounted to 'political pageantry' and that Defendants are going to continue to adhere to the existing rules, as arbitrarily interpreted by them, and 'not make exceptions for Stonewall.’"

The suit stated, "This was no careless mistake. The government has not removed other historical flags at other national monuments, most notably Confederate flags. Meanwhile, the assault on Stonewall is the latest example in a long line of efforts by the Trump Administration to target the LGBTQ+ community for discrimination and opprobrium." The lawsuit stated that the word "transgender" had been removed from "prominent sections of the Stonewall monument’s website" prior to the flag being removed, "as part of its wider campaign to demean and erase the transgender community."

"This case concerns one flag. But it is about so much more. The Pride flag symbolizes the dignity and respect for which members of LGBTQ+ community have so long fought and so rightfully deserve. Its colors reflect the diversity of the LGBTQ+ community and the spectrum of human sexuality and gender."

The suit accuses the Trump administration of targeting the LGBTQ community through actions such as removing websites dedicated to LGBTQ history from the National Park System’s website, and claims that there has been a "pattern of selective enforcement" regarding the flag rules, noting the display of the Confederate flag at certain locations.

The suit seeks the official reinstatement of the Pride flag at the park, and accuses the administration of violating the Administrative Procedure Act.

Pride Flag Lawsuit by Hannah Nightingale