US Park Service removes 'transgender' from website commemorating Stonewall riot
New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu): References to transgender people were removed from the National Park Service's website for the Stonewall National Monument on Thursday. This monument, located in New York, commemorates the 1969 Stonewall Riots, a pivotal event in the LGBTQ+ rights movement. The changes were made following an executive order signed by President Donald Trump on his first day in office, which mandated the federal government define sex as strictly male or female. New York Governor Kathy Hochul criticized the move, calling it “cruel and petty” and reaffirming that New York would not allow the erasure of transgender people's contributions to the LGBTQ+ rights struggle. The Stonewall National Monument, situated in Greenwich Village near the Stonewall Inn, was the site of a historic rebellion on June 28, 1969, when gay and transgender patrons resisted a police raid, marking the beginning of the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement. While the park service website continued to include historical photos of transgender activists, the words "transgender" and "queer" were removed from the text. References to the full acronym LGBTQ were altered, replacing the "T" and "Q" with terms like "LGB rights movement" or "LGB civil rights."
The Stonewall Inn, now part of the monument, and The Stonewall Inn Gives Back Initiative, a nonprofit supporting the historic bar, condemned these alterations. They argued that such actions distorted history and dishonored the significant contributions of transgender individuals, particularly transgender women of color, who were instrumental in the Stonewall Riots and the broader LGBTQ+ rights movement. Stacy Lentz, CEO of The Stonewall Inn Gives Back Initiative, expressed her alarm, claiming the changes amounted to an attempt to "cis-wash" LGBTQ history by erasing the presence and contributions of transgender people. Angelica Christina, a transgender woman and board director of the initiative, acknowledged that the changes were not surprising, given the Trump administration's repeated executive orders targeting the transgender community. However, she found it particularly shocking that the Stonewall Monument was targeted, given the historical significance of the Stonewall Inn as a sanctuary for the LGBTQ+ community.
Previously, the website for the national monument had stated, "Before the 1960s, almost everything about living openly as a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer (LGBTQ+) person was illegal." After the change, it now reads, "Before the 1960s, almost everything about living openly as a lesbian, gay, bisexual (LGB) person was illegal." The National Park Service did not respond to requests for comment about the changes, nor did it clarify if Trump’s executive order would affect the monument. Tim Leonard, Northeast program manager for the National Parks Conservation Association, emphasized that attempts to erase LGBTQ+ history would not change the truth or the contributions of the transgender community. He reiterated that the National Park Service’s role is not only to protect national parks but also to educate visitors about the inclusive history of America.
The Stonewall National Monument was designated in 2016 by President Barack Obama, and in 2022, a new $3.2 million visitor center funded mostly by private donations opened at the site. This center tells the story of Stonewall in greater depth, with support from the park service. Trump's executive order, which redefined sex as strictly male or female, has sparked controversy. Conservative groups, such as the American Family Association, have supported the order, framing it as a necessary measure to protect women from "gender extremism." However, leading medical organizations, including the American Medical Association and the American Psychiatric Association, assert that gender is not binary and exists on a spectrum.
