National Park Service removes 'transgender' from Stonewall National Monument website
National Park Service removes 'transgender' from Stonewall National Monument website
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Transgender references removed from Stonewall website
References to transgender people have been removed from a National Park Service website for the Stonewall National Monument.
Fox - 5 NY
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.
'Page not found': Trump administration scrubs webpages of gender reference
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.
Marsha P. Johnson Transgender hero of Stonewall riots finally gets her due
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."
Kinsey Crowley is a trending news reporter at USA TODAY. Reach her at kcrowley@gannett.com, and follow her on X and TikTok @kinseycrowley.
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Trump declined to issue Pride Month proclamations in his first term, but did recognize the celebration in 2019 as he publicized a global campaign to decriminalize homosexuality headed by Richard Grenell, then the U.S. Ambassador to Germany and the highest-profile openly gay person in the administration. (Grenell now serves as envoy for special missions.) 'As we celebrate LGBT Pride Month and recognize the outstanding contributions LGBT people have made to our great Nation, let us also stand in solidarity with the many LGBT people who live in dozens of countries worldwide that punish, imprison, or even execute individuals on the basis of their sexual orientation,' Trump posted on social media. This time, there is no celebrating. The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, which Trump named himself chairman of after firing members of the board of trustees, canceled a week's worth of events celebrating LGBTQ+ rights for this summer's World Pride festival in Washington, D.C., at one of the nation's premier cultural institutions. Trump, who indicated when he took up the position that he would be dictating programming, had specifically said he would end events featuring performers in drag. The exterior lights that once lit the venue on the Potomac River in the colors of the rainbow were quickly replaced with red, white and blue. Multiple artists and producers involved in the center's Tapestry of Pride schedule, which had been planned for June 5 to 8, told The Associated Press that their events had been quietly canceled or moved to other venues. Inside the White House, there's little second-guessing about the president's stances. Trump aides have pointed to their decision to seize on culture wars surrounding transgender rights during the 2024 campaign as key to their win. They poured money into ads aimed at young men — especially young Hispanic men — attacking Democratic nominee Kamala Harris for supporting 'taxpayer-funded sex changes for prisoners,' including one spot aired during football games. 'Kamala is for they/them. President Trump is for you,' the narrator said. Jennings flatly rejected assertions that the administration hasn't been discriminatory. 'Are you kidding me? You're throwing trans people out of the military. That's example No. 1.' He points to the cancellation of scientific grants and funding for HIV/AIDS organizations, along with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's 'petty and mean' order to rename the USNS Harvey Milk, which commemorates the gay rights activist and Navy veteran. Jennings also said it doesn't help that Trump has appointed openly gay men like Grenell and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to high-profile positions: 'I would call it window dressing.' Craig Konnoth, a University of Virginia professor of civil rights, compared the U.S.' trajectory to that of Russia, which has seen a crackdown on gay and lesbian rights after a long stretch of more progressive policies. In 2023, Russia's Supreme Court effectively outlawed LGBTQ+ activism. Williams said Trump has made the Republican Party more accepting of gay people. First lady Melania Trump, he noted, has hosted fundraisers for his organization. 'On the whole, we think he's the best president ever for our community. He's managed to support us in ways that we have never been supported by any administration,' Williams said. 'We are vastly accepted within our party now.' Trump's approach to LGBTQ+ rights comes amid a broader shift among Republicans, who have grown less tolerant in recent years. While overall support for same-sex marriage has been stable, according to Gallup, the percentage of Republicans who think marriages between same-sex couples should be recognized as valid with the same rights as traditional marriage dropped to 41% this year. That's the lowest point since 2016, a year after the Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriage is a constitutional right, and a substantial decline from a high of 55% in 2021. There's been a similar drop in the share of Republicans who say that gay and lesbian relations are morally acceptable, which has dropped from 56% in 2022 to 38% this year. Democrats, meanwhile, continue to overwhelmingly support same-sex marriage and say that same-sex relations are morally acceptable. An AP-NORC poll from May also found that Trump's approach to handling transgender issues has been a point of relative strength for the president. About half (52%) of U.S. adults said they approve of how he's handling transgender issues — a figure higher than his overall job approval (41%). Douglas Page, who studies politics and gender at Gettysburg College, said that 'trans rights are less popular than gay rights, with a minority of Republicans in favor of trans rights. This provides incentives for Republicans to speak to the conservative side of that issue.' 'Gay people are less controversial to Republicans compared to trans people,' he said in an email, 'so gay appointees like Secretary Bessent probably won't ruffle many feathers.' Megerian and Colvin write for the Associated Press. Colvin reported from New York. Linley Sanders and Fatima Hussein contributed to this report.
