Trump officials blast electeds’ plan to re-raise Rainbow Flag: ‘Trying to distract from their recent failures’

The Trump administration on Feb. 11 accused New York City elected officials of “trying to distract from their recent failures” in response to their plans to re-raise the Rainbow Flag at the Stonewall National Monument.

The US Department of the Interior’s criticism — which targeted Mayor Zohran Mamdani and other electeds — came in response to a question from Gay City News about the federal government’s response to a plan by elected officials to raise the Rainbow Flag once again at the Stonewall National Monument on Feb. 12 at 4 p.m.

“While Mayor Mamdani and other elected officials are trying to distract from their recent failures, it would be a better use of their time to get the trash buildup off city streets and work to get the power back on for the people of New York City,” the Department of the Interior told Gay City News.

Asked to respond to that, Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal, who is among the elected officials planning to raise the flag on Feb. 12, told Gay City News in a phone interview on Feb. 11 that the Department of the Interior’s comment represents an attempt to distract the American people from the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, the affordability crisis, and the human rights violations of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which Hoylman-Sigal described as the president’s “personal paramilitary force.”

“If you can’t raise a flag at the national monument for Stonewall, where on earth can you?” Hoylman-Sigal asked. “That’s why this issue is resonating with so many New Yorkers and Americans, and people across the globe. Stonewall is an iconic symbol for human rights.”

On Feb. 9, Gay City News was the first to report on the federal government’s removal of the flag, which the National Park Service said was due to “government-wide guidance” stating that “only the US flag and other congressionally or departmentally authorized flags are flown on NPS-managed flagpoles, with limited exceptions.”

Hoylman-Sigal said he and the other elected officials are planning to raise the flag regardless of the federal government’s policies.

“It could be seen as an act of defiance,” Hoylman-Sigal said. “But I think it can be seen, on the part of most New Yorkers, to be absolutely right and necessary.”

Congressmember Dan Goldman, State Senators Erik Bottcher and Brian Kavanaugh, and Assemblymembers Deborah Glick and Tony Simone will be joining Hoylman-Sigal in the effort to re-raise the flag.