References to transgender people removed from Stonewall National Monument website
NEW YORK (WABC) -- President Donald Trump's executive orders, essentially seeking to erase the existence of transgender Americans, are now reflected on the website of the Stonewall National Monument.
The National Park Service website about the monument to the 1969 Stonewall uprising, now only refers to lesbian, gay and bisexual people, or "LGB." Any mentions of "transgender" or "queer" (LGBTQ+) people have been removed.
It's the latest effort by the Trump administration to demand that the federal government recognize only two genders. Trump had ordered that federal funds shouldn't be used to, "promote gender ideology."
The National Parks Conservation Association had this to say in a statement:
"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," said Timothy Leonard, Northeast Program Manager for the National Parks Conservation Association. "Erasing letters or webpages does not change the history or the contributions of our transgender community members at Stonewall or anywhere else. 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."
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul called the move "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," the governor said in a post on X.
The Stonewall Inn Gives Back Initiative and The Stonewall Inn said they are "outraged and appalled" over the removal of the word "transgender" from the website.
"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," they said in a statement.
They called it a "direct attack on transgender people, especially transgender women of color, who continue to face violence, discrimination, and erasure at every turn."
"Pride would not exist without trans people and so to erase us from a website is violence and it is disgraceful, what they have done," said Stonewall Inn Gives Back Initiative board member Angelica Christina.
A GLAAD spokesperson called the change "another example of the Trump administration's blatant attempts to discriminate against and erase the legacies of transgender and queer Americans."
The move comes as a federal judge on Thursday, temporarily blocked the Trump administration from restricting transgender healthcare for anyone under 19.
"We hear, in our office, from parents of trans young people, who overnight are losing their gender affirming care and it's truly terrifying for them, terrifying for these young people," said City Council Co-Chair of the LGBTQIA+ Caucus Erik Bottcher.
Inside the Stonewall National Park Visitors Center, that opened this past June, trans rights and history are on full display, but for how much longer?
The community's fight goes back decades to when the bar, and national monument, was at the center of the gay rights movement. It's a fight the trans community was undeniably part of.
A rally protesting the move has been planned for Friday at Christopher Park.
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