The National Park Service has removed the "T" from the "LGBTQ+" acronym, as well as any references to transgender people, from the official Stonewall National Monument website on Thursday. The monument, a historic landmark in Greenwich Village, is the first NPS site to acknowledge the fight for LGBTQ+ rights in the U.S.
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This move follows a continued push from President Donald Trump's administration to only recognize two genders, male or female, that a person was assigned at birth. As reported by The New York Times, the "Q+" has also been subsequently removed after an initial deletion of the "T" from the acronym. The word "queer" was also scrubbed.
Prior to its revision, as recent as Wednesday, the NPS website introduction read: "Before the 1960s, almost everything about living openly as a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer (LGBTQ+) person was illegal." Now it states: "Before the 1960s, almost everything about living openly as a lesbian, gay, bisexual (LGB) person was illegal. The Stonewall Uprising on June 28, 1969 is a milestone in the quest for LGB civil rights and provided momentum for a movement."
The 7.7-acre national monument in NYC's West Village was begun by President Obama in 2016; it includes the area surrounding the Stonewall Inn, a historic gay bar, as well as the park across the street. The site was "devoted to America's gay rights movement" and served as a "symbolic heart of New York City's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community," the Times noted.
The act sparked swift condemnations from across the political spectrum. The National Parks Conservation Association, a bipartisan nonprofit, published a response slamming the erasure.
"The National Park Service exists to not only protect and preserve our most cherished places but to educate its millions of annual national park visitors about the inclusive, full history of America. Erasing letters or webpages does not change the history or the contributions of our transgender community members at Stonewall or anywhere else," said Timothy Leonard, the NPCA's Northeast program manager, in a statement. "History was made here and civil rights were earned because of Stonewall. And we're committed to ensuring more people know that story and how it continues to influence America today. Stonewall inspires and our parks must continue to include diverse stories that welcome and represent the people that shaped our nation."
GLAAD, the LGBTQ+ media watchdog, noted how the 1969 Stonewall riots — protests in response to police raids of gay bars, which were widely credited as sparking the modern-day LGBTQ+ rights movement — would not have been possible without transgender people.
"The decision to change 'LGBTQ' to 'LGB' on the Stonewall National Monument page is yet another example of the Trump administration’s blatant attempts to discriminate against and erase the legacies of transgender and queer Americans," GLAAD said in a statement. "The Stonewall Uprising – a monumental moment in the fight for LGBTQ rights – would not have happened without the leadership of transgender and gender non-conforming people. The tireless work of Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera, and countless other trans women of color paved the way and continue to inspire us. You can try to erase our history, but we will never forget those who came before us and we will continue to fight for all those who will come after us."
In a statement, The Stonewall Inn and the Stonewall Inn Gives Back Initiative also underlined the contributions of trans pioneers like Johnson and Rivera: "Let us be clear: Stonewall is transgender history. Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera, and countless other trans and gender-nonconforming individuals fought bravely, and often at great personal risk, to push back against oppressive systems. Their courage, sacrifice, and leadership were central to the resistance we now celebrate as the foundation of the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement."
"We demand the immediate restoration of the word 'transgender' on the Stonewall National Monument website," the statement added. "We will not stand by while the legacies of our transgender siblings are erased from the history books. The Stonewall Inn and The Stonewall Inn Gives Back Initiative stands unwaveringly in solidarity with the transgender community and all who fight for full equality, and we will not rest until this grave injustice is corrected."
