Trump Administration Tries to Deny LGBTQ+ History
GLAAD and The Stonewall Inn Gives Back Initiative have condemned the Trump administration’s changes to the Stonewall National Monument page on the National Park Service website, which altered references from “LGBTQ” to “LGB,” removing mention of transgender individuals.
The Stonewall Inn was the first national LGBTQ+ monument that was established in 2016 as a memorial to the birthplace of the modern LGBTQ+ movement.
GLAAD denounced the revision as “another example of the Trump administration’s blatant attempts to discriminate against and erase the legacies of transgender and queer Americans.” The organization highlighted the contributions of transgender activists, particularly Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, in the 1969 Stonewall Uprising, calling their efforts instrumental in the fight for LGBTQ rights.
The Stonewall Inn and its nonprofit initiative also released a statement calling the edit “a blatant act of erasure.” The groups emphasized that transgender women of color were at the forefront of the Stonewall Riots and demanded that the original language be restored to the monument’s webpage.
“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 read. “We will not stand by while the legacies of our transgender siblings are erased from the history books.”
Advocates have called on the National Park Service and the administration to reverse the change, reaffirming their commitment to honoring the full history of the LGBTQ rights movement.
