Christopher Park is a small, charming corner at the intersection of Seventh Avenue and Christopher Street in central Manhattan, but these days it is at the top of the agenda for many New Yorkers and for the United States as a whole, as part of the “culture war” that is heating up once again.
The modest garden is part of Stonewall National Monument, which commemorates the struggle for LGBTQ rights in the country. However, after many years in which it flew proudly, the Rainbow Pride flag was removed last Thursday and replaced with the American flag by order of the Trump administration.
Crowd protests the removal of the Rainbow Pride flag from the Stonewall National Monument in Manhattan
(Video: Amir Bogen)
The move was met with loud public protest and brought local political leaders and members of the LGBTQ community into the streets, where they demonstrated throughout the day against the decision, calling it a deliberate and provocative attack by the White House and its supporters aimed at erasing an important chapter in the city’s and nation's history.
Stonewall National Monument was recognized in June 2016 by then-president Barack Obama as a national memorial to the Stonewall Riots, which took place at that very location 47 years earlier, on the night of June 28, 1969, when the New York City police raided the gay nightclub Stonewall Inn and arrested some of the patrons inside.
Unlike previous raids, this time the officers were met with determined resistance, and riots broke out in the complex and throughout the surrounding area, including violent clashes with law enforcement. The local incident became a turning point in the history of the LGBTQ community in the United States, as part of the broader human rights movement of the period.
Since then, the uprising has symbolized the struggle for equal rights for American gays, lesbians, transgender people and queer individuals, receiving presidential recognition from Obama - recognition that the Trump administration now appears to repudiate. The arguments are bureaucratic and concern rules stating that only the United States flag may be flown at national memorial sites, but dozens of protesters who gathered at Christopher Park claim the move was a deliberate affront to the LGBTQ community and its heritage.
1 View gallery
Crowd protests the removal of the Rainbow Pride flag from the Stonewall National Monument in Manhattan
(Photo: Amir Bogen)
After an early morning protest in direct response to the removal of the Rainbow Pride flag, another demonstration took place with the participation of Congressman Dan Goldman, Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal, State Senators Erik Bottcher and Brian Kavanagh and Assembly Members Deborah Glick and Tony Simone. Together with prominent LGBTQ activists and their supporters, the speakers called for the Rainbow Pride flag to be rehung.
A rainbow flag was attached to the pole and flew alongside the national flag during the event, but dozens in the crowd were not satisfied and called for the removal of the Stars and Stripes flag. “Take it down,” they chanted repeatedly in anger and cheered when one activist did so and removed the flag from the pole.
Yet, when the American flag was returned to its place, followed by "leave it down" chants, many protesters expressed anger: “Stonewall was a riot, not a compromise,” one of the more vocal participants shouted.
Some of the more radical activists turned against the American flag itself, arguing that it did not represent them and calling for its removal regardless of the temporary restoration of the Rainbow Pride flag. Others, by contrast, carried hybrid flags combining the two: stars and stripes blended with rainbow colors.
The protest at Christopher Park, where some speakers delivered speeches and called for unity in the struggle for equal rights and against what they described as regressive conservatism - accompanied by chants of “We won't go back” (a rebuke to the slogan associated with the MAGA movement, “Make America Great Again”) - continues the public battle led by New York City officials against the directive from the White House.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani declared that he intends to fight the decision: “I am outraged by the removal of the Rainbow Pride Flag from Stonewall National Monument. New York is the birthplace of the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement, and no act of erasure will ever change, or silence, that history.” He added, “Our city has a duty not just to honor this legacy, but to live up to it. I will always fight for a New York City that invests in our LGBTQ+ community, defends their dignity and protects every one of our neighbors—without exception.”
Speaking to The Advocate, Senator Chuck Schumer echoed that sentiment: “The removal of the Pride Rainbow Flag from the Stonewall National Monument is a deeply outrageous action that must be reversed right now. Stonewall is a landmark because it is the birthplace of the modern LGBTQ rights movement, and symbols of that legacy belong there by both history and principle. New Yorkers are right to be outraged, but if there’s one thing I know about this latest attempt to rewrite history, stoke division and discrimination, and erase our community pride, it’s this: that flag will return. New Yorkers will see to it.”