'Political stunt': Trump admin rages at NYC for directly defying his Pride flag order

New York City elected officials and activists re-raised the LGBTQ+ pride flag on Thursday at the Stonewall National Monument in defiance of a Trump administration edict that led to the iconic emblem’s removal. In response, the U.S. Department of the Interior called re-raising the flag a “political stunt.”

The flag’s removal became a national flashpoint after the National Park Service quietly took it down over the weekend from the birthplace of the modern LGBTQ+ civil rights movement, drawing hundreds of locals to protest this week and prompting elected leaders to vow to raise it again.

PIX11 News’ Henry Rosoff reported that elected officials had aimed to add the flag to a pole that was currently flying the American flag, wanting to “avoid a conflict” because they “believe they’ve been baited by the Trump administration.”

As the pride flag was re-raised, one attendee, USA Today reported, “attempted to pull down the adjacent U.S. flag, as some chanted ‘take it down’ and ‘burn the American flag.’ The local elected officials left immediately after the pride flag was raised and did not give speeches.”

Democratic New York State Senator Erik Bottcher told MS NOW on Thursday, “We’re going up against the federal government, and we’re going to continue doing it until we win.”

Earlier, he had written, “removing the Pride flag from Stonewall is not a minor change. It is erasure. It is an act of exclusion. It sends a message that LGBTQ+ visibility is negotiable, even at the very site where our community fought back. Stonewall is sacred ground. The Pride flag is not partisan. It is history. It is belonging. And we will not be intimidated into silence.”

Other elected officials, including Senate Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, New York Governor Kathy Hochul, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the Congressional Equality Caucus, U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal, and others have publicly condemned the removal of the flag this week.

The U.S. Department of the Interior issued a scathing statement in opposition to the flag being raised again.

“Hundreds of families in New York City went without power during this year’s severe cold weather, people are being found dead on the streets, and trash has piled up so high it towers over city residents,” the statement reads, as ABC Eyewitness News reported. “This is Mayor Mamdani and city officials’ New York City. While today’s political stunt is a distraction from their recent deadly failures, it would be a better use of their time to get the trash buildup off city streets, ensure there are no more avoidable deaths, and work to keep the power on for the people of New York City. Today’s political pageantry shows how utterly incompetent and misaligned the New York City officials are with the problems their city is facing.”