By Isabella McHugh
Staff Writer
The Trump administration removed a large pride flag from the Stonewall Monument in Manhattan according to a Fox 5 New York brief. This order followed a restriction of what types of flags are permitted to be flown in National Park sites, CNN reports.
Bar employees and elected officials said they noticed the flag was missing on Monday morning and were surprised to see it taken down, an owner of the bar, Stacy Lentz, told the New York Times. She also discussed how it had been a year since the administration removed transgender references from the Stonewall monument website and other informative locations.
The park services claim they only wish to act in accordance with the new guidelines issuing flag restrictions, reports AP News. LGBTQ+ rights activists, including Ann Northrop, counters saying “It’s just a disgusting slap in the face.”
Since President Donald Trump’s inauguration last January, his administration has loosely been cutting down on various diversity enterprises which include flags and other historical representations, according to the New York Times.
Other advocates and council members gathered on Feb. 10 to plan rallies and even talk of raising the flag up again. Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal said that removing the pride flag was a “petty and vindictive” move.
“On one level, removing a flag seems extremely, I guess, pedestrian. But the symbolism of doing it here at Stonewall is what is so profoundly disappointing and frightening,” he further stated to AP News.
The protests boil down to resentment against an administration that appeared to heedlessly stab a monumental part of American history. The Stonewall Inn was like the seeds of the LGBTQ+ rights movement, CNN reports. The bar was raided by police in 1969, which ignited the fire of retaliation posed by its devotees which lasted for days. Since then, Stonewall became really important in the LGBTQ+ community, and taking away that symbol of pride in that space was an offense to that community.
Steven Love Menendez, another LGBTQ+ activist, opened up about what the pride flag means to him as written by ABC News. “For me, [the rainbow flag] is a sense of pride and joy and celebration and victory for our community,” he said. “[Removing] it feels like a slap in the face to the community, you know, a punch in the gut. They're taking away our symbol of pride.”
Outside of Stonewall, over 100 people rallied in protest of the administration’s action. Maddie Bordeaux, a pediatric nurse who is originally from Florida, told the New York Times. “I was under the impression that New York was above it all, the nonsense that’s happening in this country,” she stated, and furthered, “But this is the administration’s way of proving the point that they have full power over us.”
Chloe Elentári, a 45-year-old transgender protester, professed that removing the flag was an act of “hate,” and “erasure.” Her message to the LGBTQ+ community is to be unafraid in the face of adversity and to “live their lives and be happy,” the New York Times reports.
In commemoration of this historical event, former President Barack Obama “designated the monument” during his second term as president according to CNN.
In 2016, he made a distinguished speech in which he declared, “Stonewall will be our first national monument to tell the story of the struggle for LGBT rights. I believe our national parks should reflect the full story of our country, the richness and diversity and uniquely American spirit that has always defined us. That we are stronger together. That out of many, we are one.”
