National Park Service removes 'transgender' from Stonewall National Monument website
The National Park Service has removed mentions of "transgender" from its website for the Stonewall National Monument in New York, a small park dedicated to an LGBTQ+ uprising that helped advance civil rights for the community.
"Before the 1960s, almost everything about living openly as a lesbian, gay, bisexual (LGB) person was illegal," the website now reads. "The Stonewall Uprising on June 28, 1969 is a milestone in the quest for LGB civil rights and provided momentum for a movement."
The internet archive service Wayback Machine shows that up until Thursday, the website included "transgender, or queer" in the LGBTQ+ acronym.
President Donald Trump and his administration have targeted the transgender community with several executive actions that include banning transgender women in sports, banning transgender troops in the military, and limiting federal recognition to two genders, biologically female and biologically male.
But transgender activists were central to the 1969 uprising at Stonewall, and the move to remove them from the park's website has drawn criticism from the community.
Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera were key trans activists at Stonewall
The Stonewall Uprising was a series of protests against police raids in gay bars in Manhattan's Greenwich Village of Manhattan, but it centered on the most popular one, the Stonewall Inn. According to the Library of Congress, homosexuality was considered a criminal offense at the time and raids were common. But this series of events built off years of activism and marked a shift in perceptions of LGBTQ+ activism in the U.S. The first Pride march took place on the anniversary of the raids, kicking off an enduring tradition that occurs in June in cities around the country.
Many activists involved in the uprising were transgender and gender-nonconforming, including Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson. Together they founded STAR (Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries) and the first LGBTQ+ youth shelter in North America, according to an article still available as of Friday on the NPS website.
Rivera still has an active NPS web page dedicated to her. Johnson had an NPS page that now shows an error message. According to their bios, Johnson was known for her joy, creativity and generosity, and Rivera remained a fierce advocate for trans rights through the following decades, creating the Sylvia Rivera Law Project.
LGBTQ+ community groups speak out about Stonewall park website edits
Stonewall Inn today is a historical landmark and operating bar. In a statement released by GLAAD, Stonewall Inn and The Stonewall Inn Gives Back Initiative, an associated nonprofit organization, demanded the website language be reverted back.
"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," the statement reads. "We will not stand by while the legacies of our transgender siblings are erased from the history books."
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul condemned the move in a post on X calling it "cruel and petty."
The nonpartisan National Parks Conservation Association said parks should continue to include diverse stories.
"Erasing letters or webpages does not change the history or the contributions of our transgender community members at Stonewall or anywhere else," Timothy Leonard with the NPCA said in a statement. "History was made here and civil rights were earned because of Stonewall."
Kinsey Crowley is a trending news reporter at Paste BN. Reach her at kcrowley@gannett.com, and follow her on X and TikTok @kinseycrowley.