Protest Planned at Stonewall Inn Following National Park Service Action

February 17, 2025
HANK ORSO

A protest occurred the afternoon of Friday Feb. 14th at the Stonewall National Monument for people to show their love for the LGBTQ+ community...the entire community...following the recent move by the National Park Service removing the words "trans" and "queer" from its website. (The protest is actually occurring as of this writing; a follow-up to see how it went is forthcoming.)

In accordance with the current president's executive orders issued on day one of his administration, as well as mentioned in his inauguration speech, establishing his belief that America will only recognize two biological sexes, the National Park Service scrubbed references to trans and queer people from its website. If you follow the link to their website, you will see that now they only reference "LGB."

The Stonewall National Monument at the Stonewall Inn is the first LGBTQ+ location recognized by the NPS. In addition, the Stonewall National Monument Visitors Center is the first such LGBTQ+ educational and historical center to operate within the National Park system. The Visitor Center encompasses 2,100 square feet at 51 Christopher Street, between Waverly Place and 7th Avenue South in New York City.

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The Stonewall Inn is the location of what many consider to be the launching pad of the current queer civil rights movement when gay, trans, and POC youth fought back for several days against police brutality on what they considered their home turf. With the historical significance of trans people at the forefront of the fighting, the erasure of trans people from the official records is disheartening and egregious, to say the least.

From a CBS report from earlier today:

"It was trans women of color, trans women like Sylvia Rivera, Marsha P. Johnson, Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, trans women that put their lives on the line, that stood on the front lines of this revolution. They are the reason why we have the rights that we have today, not just for trans people, but for LGBT people in general," Stonewall Inn Gives Back Initiative board member Angelica Christina said.
"We're going to do everything we can, especially with our nonprofit that fights for equality all over the globe, Stonewall Gives Back Initiative, to make sure that people know that we're not going to tolerate this. Progress and civil rights, LGBTQ rights have never been made by being silent, and we're not going to be silent," Stonewall Inn co-owner Stacy Lentz said.

Also in response to the NPS's word change, NY Governor Kathy Hochul said on social media "This is just 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."