NPS Removes Pride Flag from Stonewall Monument Amid Protests

The National Park Service has removed a large rainbow Pride flag from the Stonewall National Monument in New York City's Greenwich Village, prompting protests and condemnation from local officials and LGBTQ advocates who view the action as an erasure of the site's historic significance to the gay rights movement.

The flag's removal occurred in compliance with a January 21 memo from the agency, which enforces longstanding policies limiting displays on federal flagpoles to the U.S. flag and other congressionally or departmentally authorized banners, with limited exceptions for historical context or living history programs. The Stonewall National Monument, designated in 2016 by then-President Barack Obama as the first national monument dedicated to LGBTQ history, centers on Christopher Park across from the Stonewall Inn. The site commemorates the 1969 uprising that began when police raided the bar on June 28, leading to six nights of protests against discriminatory laws, including arrests for cross-dressing and homosexual acts. That event is widely recognized as the catalyst for the modern LGBTQ rights movement in the United States.

On Tuesday, about 100 demonstrators gathered in...