President Donald Trump is facing backlash over a controversial change to a historical monument, with critics condemning the move as “cruel and petty”.
On Thursday (February 13), the National Park Service (NPS) revealed that it removed all references to “transgender” people from New York’s Stonewall National Monument official website due to an executive order signed by the 78-year-old president.
The order, signed on his first day back in the office, was described as an effort to “restore biological truth to the federal government,” per the White House website.
The Stonewall National Monument, located in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village, was established in 2016 to honor the historic 1969 Stonewall Uprising, which was a pivotal moment in the fight for LGBTQ+ rights.
The movement was led by both gay and trans activists, yet recent changes to the site’s official federal description now excludes any mention of transgender individuals.
Previously, the website acknowledged the monument’s significance in the struggle for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) rights. But in the updated version, the term “LGBTQ” has been shortened to “LGB.”
The website now reads: “Before the 1960s, almost everything about living openly as a lesbian, gay, bisexual (LGB) person was illegal. The Stonewall Uprising on June 28, 1969, is a milestone in the quest for LGB civil rights and provided momentum for a movement.”
Trump’s decision has been slammed on social media, with many Democratic lawmakers and LGBTQ+ advocates expressing their outrage.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul called the changes “cruel and petty,” on X (formerly Twitter): “Transgender people play a critical role in the fight for LGBTQ+ rights – and New York will never allow their contributions to be erased.”
Congressman Jerrold Nadler, whose district includes Stonewall, also weighed in, writing: “It’s an attack on the truth, it’s an attack on the transgender community, and it’s an attack on the very values of justice and equality that we as a nation claim to uphold,” per News.com.au.
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At a protest held outside the monument on Friday, activists expressed their anger and disbelief.
E. Garcia, a demonstrator at a protest held outside the monument on Friday, told journalist Shannon Power: “You can’t erase trans people, especially with Stonewall, and that’s the attempt that’s trying to be made when trans people were the ones that started the riot.”
Another protester, Meghan, called it a “slap in the face,” adding: “If the queer community hadn’t been available to me, I wouldn’t be available right now.”
This change is just the latest in a series of executive orders under the two-time president targeting transgender rights.
Since his return to office, Trump has taken aggressive steps to restrict transgender rights, including: banning trans women from female sports, moving trans female prisoners to male prisons, rolling back transgender military service protections, and removing transgender-specific health information from government websites.
The National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), which advocates for U.S. national parks, has criticized the changes made to the monument in a statement.
“Erasing letters or web pages does not change the history or the contributions of our transgender community members at Stonewall or anywhere else,” NPCA’s Timothy Leonard said.
The move is already facing legal challenges, with civil rights groups arguing that Trump’s orders violate constitutional protections.
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