GREENWICH VILLAGE, Manhattan (WABC) — The Nationwide Parks Service eliminated the massive rainbow flag that sat on a flagpole at Stonewall Nationwide Monument at Christopher Park, which is situated close to the Stonewall Inn.
The location was designated a nationwide monument by former President Barack Obama in 2016 to commemorate the Stonewall Rebellion, which started in 1969, and is credited with kickstarting the trendy LGBTQ+ motion.
“Below government-wide steerage, together with Basic Providers Administration coverage and Division of the Inside route, solely the U.S. flag and different congressionally or departmentally approved flags are flown on NPS-managed flagpoles, with restricted exceptions. Any modifications to flag shows are made to make sure consistency with that steerage. Stonewall Nationwide Monument continues to protect and interpret the positioning’s historic significance by way of displays and applications,” the Inside Dept. communications workplace informed ABC Information in an announcement on Monday when requested to verify the removing.
Requested when the flag was eliminated and whether or not the motion is said to President Trump’s govt order, NPS didn’t remark.
On Tuesday, New York Metropolis leaders expressed their outrage and Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal mentioned the flag shall be re-raised inside Christopher Park on Thursday in defiance of the federal directive.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani posted on social media that “no act of erasure” will silence historical past.
“I’m outraged by the removing of the Rainbow Delight Flag from Stonewall Nationwide Monument. New York is the birthplace of the trendy LGBTQ+ rights motion, and no act of erasure will ever change, or silence, that historical past. Our metropolis has an obligation not simply to honor this legacy, however to stay as much as it. I’ll all the time battle for a New York Metropolis that invests in our LGBTQ+ neighborhood, defends their dignity, and protects each one in all our neighbors-without exception.”
Different native officers had been fast to react and have vowed that New Yorkers is not going to stand for it.
The removing comes after the Trump administration canceled plans in 2017 to dedicate a satisfaction flag on the Stonewall Nationwide Monument, arguing that that the flagpole sits on metropolis land, not federal land. However through the Biden administration activists advocated for a flag to be added to the flagpole, which sits on federal land and the flag was approved.
(ABC Information contributed to this report.)
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