Bethel Rep. Allie-Brennan Condemns Removal Of Pride Flag From Stonewall National Monument

BETHEL, CT — State Rep. Raghib Allie-Brennan, who represents Bethel, criticized the removal of the Pride flag from Stonewall National Monument, calling the action an attempt to erase LGBTQ+ history.

In a statement released Tuesday, Allie-Brennan said the decision to take down the Pride flag was “not a bureaucratic decision,” but a deliberate effort to minimize LGBTQ+ visibility. He said the flag is inseparable from the history of Stonewall and from the broader fight for LGBTQ+ rights in the United States.

“Stonewall is not just another national monument,” Allie-Brennan said in the statement. “It is the birthplace of the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement.”

The Stonewall National Monument, located in New York City’s Greenwich Village, commemorates the 1969 Stonewall uprising, when patrons of the Stonewall Inn resisted a police raid, an event widely regarded as a catalyst for the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement. The site was designated a national monument in 2016 to preserve and interpret that history.

Allie-Brennan said removing the Pride flag from the monument undermines that mission, arguing that the symbol represents the visibility and resistance that emerged from Stonewall. He described the action as historical revisionism rather than preservation.

“You cannot honor Stonewall while stripping away the very symbol born from it,” he said.

Allie-Brennan, who is openly gay, said he felt compelled to speak out against what he characterized as an effort to sanitize American history. He emphasized that LGBTQ+ history should be presented fully and publicly at sites meant to commemorate it.

“LGBTQ+ history is American history,” he said in the statement.

The National Park Service has not publicly commented on the removal of the flag.