Anonymous
6/24/2025, 8:48:25 AM No.40157805
https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/trump-took-stonewalls-trans-flags
>The Trump Administration removed trans flags—as well as flags honoring Black and brown queer communities—from the Stonewall National Monument, but New Yorkers aren’t having it.
>As the site of the 1969 Stonewall Uprisings that define the LGBTQ liberation movement as we know it today, the landmark falls under federal jurisdiction. This means when the Trump Administration took the White House, the memorial to queer resistance became subject to the whims of a certain orange demagogue hellbent on the modern-day digital book burning of transgender history and life itself.
>Enter Steven Love Menendez, an artist, filmmaker, and LGBTQ activist (or, as his bio now reads on government websites, “LGB activist,” much to his chagrin).
>For almost a decade now, he’s celebrated pride in New York City by placing flags around the perimeter. Eventually, the National Parks Service (NPS) took notice and provided him funding for the yearly installation, which involves 250 flags.
>As time went on, Menendez included the Progress Pride flag—whose design nods to queer activists of color, as well as those lost to the HIV/AIDS crisis—as well as the trans Pride flag.
>But this year, Menendez was told only the “original” Pride flag would be allowed, as per federal regulations imposed by President Trump. This was not only for his installation, but for the nautical flag at the park’s center. Where the gay pride flag and trans pride flag once used to billow side-by-side, only the rainbow remains.
>“Excluding the flag is basically excluding trans people,” Menendez told Erin in the Morning. “By having the trans flags, you’re heightening trans visibility. By taking it away and somehow trying to take away trans visibility—I think that's a problem. You're somehow saying there's something wrong with them.”
>The Trump Administration removed trans flags—as well as flags honoring Black and brown queer communities—from the Stonewall National Monument, but New Yorkers aren’t having it.
>As the site of the 1969 Stonewall Uprisings that define the LGBTQ liberation movement as we know it today, the landmark falls under federal jurisdiction. This means when the Trump Administration took the White House, the memorial to queer resistance became subject to the whims of a certain orange demagogue hellbent on the modern-day digital book burning of transgender history and life itself.
>Enter Steven Love Menendez, an artist, filmmaker, and LGBTQ activist (or, as his bio now reads on government websites, “LGB activist,” much to his chagrin).
>For almost a decade now, he’s celebrated pride in New York City by placing flags around the perimeter. Eventually, the National Parks Service (NPS) took notice and provided him funding for the yearly installation, which involves 250 flags.
>As time went on, Menendez included the Progress Pride flag—whose design nods to queer activists of color, as well as those lost to the HIV/AIDS crisis—as well as the trans Pride flag.
>But this year, Menendez was told only the “original” Pride flag would be allowed, as per federal regulations imposed by President Trump. This was not only for his installation, but for the nautical flag at the park’s center. Where the gay pride flag and trans pride flag once used to billow side-by-side, only the rainbow remains.
>“Excluding the flag is basically excluding trans people,” Menendez told Erin in the Morning. “By having the trans flags, you’re heightening trans visibility. By taking it away and somehow trying to take away trans visibility—I think that's a problem. You're somehow saying there's something wrong with them.”
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