It was during President Barack Obama's second term that he tasked Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell with a study to identify places associated with LGBTQ Americans for inclusion in National Park Service parks and programs. Obama finally came through in a big way in June of 2016 by designating the new 7.7-acre Stonewall National Monument in New York City, site of the 1969 riot known as the Stonewall Uprising.
Last week, the National Park Service took down a Pride flag from what's known as the birthplace of the gay rights movement. Steve Kastenbaum was on the ground to report for NPR like a war correspondent:
I'm standing at the gates of the monument, and at the other end, a small flagpole is now barren, just a few steps away from the Stonewall Inn. It's the bar where the gay rights movement was born. This monument commemorates the night in June of 1969 when police raided that bar, and community members fought back, sparking several days of protests.
The Trump administration ordered the removal of the Pride flag, and Sen Chuck Schumer, who claims that the Stonewall Inn is "sacred ground," said over the weekend that he would be introducing federal legislation to make the Pride flag a congressionally authorized symbol.
The Stonewall Inn is sacred ground.
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) February 15, 2026
Last week, Donald Trump attacked not just the LGBTQ community, but all of us who care about pride and equality in NYC when he ordered the removal of the pride flag from the Stonewall National Monument.
Today, I was proud to stand with… pic.twitter.com/SYgG304CFh
The post continues:
… @TonySimone, @ebottcher, @JimOwles, @BradHoylman, @HRC, @Stonewall_Democrats, @housingworks, and the Gilbert Baker Foundation to announce that I will be introducing federal legislation to make the Pride Flag a congressionally authorized symbol.
We will not allow Donald Trump to engineer a crusade against the LGBTQ community and rewrite history.
It was a bar. There is nothing sacred about it. Why are you such a bad person?
— NotYourJewishMom (@CaffMomREDACTED) February 16, 2026
Wait, is LGBTQ a religion now?
— AmishDude (@TheAmishDude) February 16, 2026
To many, yet, it is.
“Sacred”
— Greg Scott (@greg_scott) February 16, 2026
Well, at least you are open about what you worship.
Sacred?
— Corey (@CoreysName) February 16, 2026
It was a bar run by the mafia that was raided by police for a multitude of violations and the drag queens threw a fit deciding they wanted to throw beer bottles and bricks at the police.
— Chad Felix Greene 🇮🇱 (@chadfelixg) February 15, 2026
Trump did nothing.
You exploit and lie about everything.https://t.co/cCZeeCsahq
There shouldn't be any pride flags flying anywhere on government property. Ever.
— John Hawkins (@johnhawkinsrwn) February 15, 2026
Pander much, Chuck?
— ScottyGal (@ShauneScott4) February 15, 2026
— Boneless Fries 🇺🇸 🤘 🧠 (@CKnobb) February 15, 2026
Dem outrage du jour.
— AgenticBit (@indminded135) February 15, 2026
That legislation is going nowhere.
— Jordan Sage (@RevDrJordanSage) February 15, 2026
Sacred? Did Jesus order a beer there? Did the Declaration of Independence get signed at The Stonewall? Historic, sure, but sacred? Quit being such a douche.
— Sisu (@nopitypolitics) February 15, 2026
It's not sacred ground. Thanks to the Obama administration, it's a national monument, which means it should be flying the American flag like the country's other national monuments.
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