The Trump administration has been sued after it removed the Pride flag from the Stonewall National Monument in New York City, prompting widespread outrage from LGBTQ+ activists and local politicians.

LGBTQ+ legal advocacy organisation Lambda Legal announced it had filed a lawsuit against the administration on behalf of a coalition of activists and community members. The legal action, submitted to a US district court alongside the Washington Litigation Group, argues that the removal of the flag was unlawful.

The suit urges the court to repeal the government’s order and reinstate the flag under the Administrative Procedure Act.“The Pride flag at the Stonewall National Monument honours the history of the fight for LGBTQ+ liberation,” Douglas F Curtis, Lambda Legal’s chief legal advocacy officer, said. “It is an integral part of the story this site was created to tell.”

Administration officials quietly removed the Pride flag on 9 February, citing guidance that limits the types of flags permitted at National Park Service (NPS) sites. The monument marks the site widely recognised as the birthplace of the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement in the United States.

On Thursday, 12 February, hundreds gathered at the Stonewall National Monument to raise the Pride flag once again and celebrate community action. The rally was organised in response to the administration’s directive restricting the display of non-agency flags at national sites.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani strongly condemned the decision to remove the flag. “I am outraged by the removal of the Rainbow Pride Flag from Stonewall National Monument,” he said.“New York is the birthplace of the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement, and no act of erasure will ever change, or silence, that history.”

The Stonewall National Monument, designated by former President Barack Obama in 2016, commemorates the 1969 Stonewall Riots, a pivotal uprising that galvanised the queer liberation movement. The riots began after patrons of the nearby Stonewall Inn resisted a police raid, sparking days of protest and laying the groundwork for modern LGBTQ+ activism.

It is not the first time concerns have been raised about what critics describe as erasure at the monument. In February 2025, references to trans people and the term ‘queer’ were removed from Stonewall’s official website. For many campaigners, the Pride flag is not merely symbolic but central to the site’s historical narrative, a visible reminder of resistance, resilience and the ongoing fight for equality.