The Stonewall National Monument sits in a small park in front of the Stonewall Inn bar.
The National Park Service (NPS) has removed all mentions of transgender people from its website for the Stonewall National Monument in order to comply with President Donald Trump’s executive orders prohibiting any federal recognition of trans people in any aspect of civic life.
The erasure of trans people from the monument, which commemorates the site of a 1969 anti-police brutality riot started by trans and queer people, has angered the nearby The Stonewall Inn, its nonprofit initiative, as well as a local New Yorkers who are planning a Friday noontime protest at the monument.
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Screenshots of the monument’s NPS webpage taken before Thursday showed the initialism “LGBTQ+” used several times. However, by Thursday afternoon, the initialism was shortened to just “LGB” with any mention of transgender or queer people removed altogether.
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The newly revised webpage now says, “Before the 1960s, almost everything about living openly as a lesbian, gay, bisexual (LGB) person was illegal.” The page also refers to rainbow Pride flags as simply “LGB flags,” a term that queer community members do not use.
The trans-exclusionary initialism of “LGB” is sometimes used by transphobic to encourage a social and ideological split between gay, lesbian, and bisexual people and transgender people. For instance, the British group LGB Alliance sees trans rights as being in conflict with LGB and women’s rights. It opposes both government recognition of gender identities and youth access to gender-affirming care.
The official National Park Service site for Stonewall has changed references to “LGBTQ+” into “LGB.”
Despite the monument’s revised NPS webpage, the initialism “LGBTQ” still appears on the posted signs at the monument, one social media commenter noted.
Numerous federal webpages began removing all mentions of trans people and gender identity after a January 29 directive from Trump’s Office of Personnel Management (OPM) telling federal agencies to “end federal funding of gender ideology” in programming, policies, and outward-facing media. The directive reflects Trump and Republicans’ larger crusade against all diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts by government bodies and private businesses.
“This is just cruel and petty,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) wrote in an X post on Thursday. “Transgender people play a critical role in the fight for LGBTQ+ rights – and New York will never allow their contributions to be erased.”
This is just cruel and petty.
Transgender people play a critical role in the fight for LGBTQ+ rights — and New York will never allow their contributions to be erased. https://t.co/flIi3avXSU
Out gay New York City Council Member Erik Bottcher wrote, “Trump is trying to erase the very existence of transgender people. He’s trying to cleave our community apart and divide us. He’s not going to succeed. Lesbians and gays are not going to abandon our transgender siblings. We are one community.”
Trump is trying to erase the very existence of transgender people. He’s trying to cleave our community apart and divide us. He’s not going to succeed. Lesbians and gays are not going to abandon our transgender siblings. We are one community. 🏳️🌈 https://t.co/uzsFSOEmah
“This blatant act of erasure not only distorts the truth of our history, but it also dishonors the immense contributions of transgender individuals – especially transgender women of color – who were at the forefront of the Stonewall Riots and the broader fight for LGBTQ+ rights,” the Stonewall Inn and its non-profit, the Stonewall Inn Gives Back Initiative, said in a statement.
“This decision to erase the word ‘transgender’ is a deliberate attempt to erase our history and marginalize the very people who paved the way for many victories we have achieved as a community,” the statement continued. “We will not stand by while the legacies of our transgender siblings are erased from the history books.”
The LGBTQ+ media advocacy group GLAAD called the revised webpage “another example of the Trump administration’s blatant attempts to discriminate against and erase the legacies of transgender and queer Americans,” The Pride LA reported.
Former President Barack Obama designated the site as a national monument in 2016, the first such site dedicated to LGBTQ+ rights.
In response to the erasure, LGBTQ+ New Yorkers are planning a noon protest at the monument on Friday.
One of the protest’s promoters — Peppermint, a trans woman who competed on the reality TV competition RuPaul’s Drag Race, wrote via Instagram, “This is so troubling! Let’s march and speak out!”
