15-02-2025
Protest at Stonewall following removal of trans, queer references
WEST VILLAGE, Manhattan (PIX11) – LGBTQ+ is the term that's widely used to describe lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, non-gender-conforming, and other members of the community who aren't heterosexual and cisgender.
It's also the term that has been on the website and other literature for the Stonewall National Monument since its founding in 2016.
More Local News
That changed on Thursday when all references to trans and queer history and culture disappeared from the monument's official literature. So on Friday, reaction to the change came in the form of a protest that packed the city-block-long monument. It aimed to resonate far beyond just the monument site.
Hundreds of protesters not only filled the site between Christopher and Grove Streets near Seventh Avenue but there were so many that they spilled out into the surrounding sidewalks.
Airco Caravan, a local artist, was among the protesting crowd.
'It's enraging,' she said while holding a light blue, pink, and white-striped trans flag aloft. 'I was so mad.'
The crowd was at Stonewall, a monument to the 1969 uprising by LGBTQ+ patrons of the Stonewall Inn against police who were trying to raid the popular LGBTQ+ bar, when it was illegal not to be straight.
In Friday's protest, a nearly hour-long series of speakers condemned the Parks Service's action.
Tanya Ansapansa Walker, from Equity New York, said that a change on the monument's website does not constitute a change to her life or to that of the 2.3 million Americans who identify as transgender.
'As you can see,' Walker said from the podium set up in the park in the monument, 'I'm trans, and I'm not going anywhere.'
Speaker after speaker emotionally condemned the change, in which the community was only listed as 'LGB' — the initials for trans, queer, and others were gone.
The move followed President Donald Trump's executive order, officially declaring that there were only two genders.
Lorelei Creen, another speaker at the protest, said that the disappearance of the letters in the monument's literature does not erase people like Creen, who is transgender.
'Trans people have always existed,' Creen said. 'We will continue to exist.'
Hundreds of people attended the event, including Naim Palanque, who flew a trans flag on a small pole extending from his jacket.
'The moment they try to get rid of one [of us],' he said, 'and try to separate all of us, then they're going to just keep coming for all of us, and there just has to be a stand.'
Whether or not Friday's protest can result in getting the designation changed back is not clear. The National Park Service did not respond to a request for comment from PIX11 News.
Still, activist Steven Love Menendez said the Stonewall National Monument protest is a significant step towards ensuring that the Trump Administration is aware of the LGBTQ+ community's strength.
'It's actually making our voice stronger,' he said, 'and making us be seen, louder and prouder.'
Love Menendez is known at the monument for posting rainbow- and other LGBTQ+ flags at the site. On Friday, he was handing out trans flags.
One of them is flying on the official flagpole of the site. In addition to Stonewall being a national monument, it's also a New York State monument. Officially, in New York, it remains an LGBTQ+ historic site.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
