Like so many others around the world, I’m still riding the high of Benito’s Super Bowl halftime performance, which featured a tear-jerking message about global unity. Unfortunately, we still woke up in Trump’s America, where too much joy feels illegal. And this week has felt spiritually trying since I learned that the Trump administration forced the Stonewall National Monument in New York City — the birthplace of the LGBTQ+ rights movement — to take down its Pride flag.
The flag was taken down in accordance with a new rule set last month by the Department of the Interior, which issued federal guidance on displaying “non-agency” flags in national parks, The New York Times reports. According to those guidelines, only the U.S. flag and congressionally approved flags can be flown on National Park poles, “with limited exceptions.”
I don’t know about you, but that “limited exceptions” part sure sounds like a loophole for the government to only fly the flags that Trump endorses. Because if there is any exception for the flags that can be flown, the Pride flag at the Stonewall Monument sure as hell seems like it should be one of them.
In 2016, President Barack Obama made the Stonewall Inn, a bar where trans and queer people protested against police brutality in the ’60s, a national monument, ensuring its protection. In 2024, just before Trump won the election, the Stonewall opened a brand new visitors center where people could learn more about the site’s history.
