NEW YORK — Several hundred people with LGBTQ flags rallied at the Stonewall National Monument on Friday (Feb 14), a day after references to transgender Americans disappeared from the US National Park Service website for the New York site commemorating a gay bar where resistance to a 1969 police raid sparked a civil rights movement.
The monument's website was initially altered on Thursday to refer to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, or queer (LGBQ+)" people, deleting the letter "T."
Later in the day, the "Q" and "+" were removed, leaving the acronym as "LGB," a usage that was more common in a less inclusive era around 1990.
President Donald Trump on his first day in office on January 20 signed an order demanding government employees refer only to "sex" and not "gender," and declaring sex to be an "immutable biological reality" that precludes any change in gender identity.
That was followed by a series of measures, nearly all facing legal challenges, affecting transgender Americans in the military, seeking healthcare or playing sports.
A US judge on Thursday blocked US health agencies from enforcing Trump's order on transition-related healthcare.
Advocates saw the symbolic measure of removing the word "transgender" from the park service website as part of an attempt to erase a class of people.
"This is literally coming into our house and trying to erase trans people," said Stacy Lentz, co-owner of the Stonewall Inn.
Neither the White House nor the National Park Service responded to a request for comment.
In 2016, former President Barack Obama designated the Stonewall National Monument to protect the area around the bar, including Christopher Park, where historic photos have been hung.
A visitor center opened in 2024.
Advocates have fought hard in recent years to promote the crucial role played by transgender pioneers such as Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera of the movement sparked at Stonewall to expand LGBTQ rights.
"The Stonewall Riots happened because trans people, particularly of color, rose up against state violence. You can't even begin to tell the story without our trans ancestors and elders," transgender activist Raquel Willis said on X.
More than 300 protesters gathered at the site on Friday.
Del, a queer clinical psychologist from New Jersey who provides gender-affirming care, cancelled Valentine's Day plans to ski and rushed to Manhattan after they learned about the demonstration.
"It’s deadly for trans and LGBTQ youth, but it's a problem for all youth, because it is frightening to see your peers being targeted and erased," Del said.
"This is our place, this is our land, this is where our trans sisters threw bricks and fought for our rights, and we have to stand our ground," they added, standing at the monument with a brick in hand.
Space around the monument was too small to accommodate the crowd and some people stood in the traffic.
"We are here to send a message to Donald Trump," New York City Council member Erik Bottcher told the rally.
"We will not let you erase the existence of our trans siblings!"
Several government websites have been scrubbed of content reflecting diversity, equity and inclusion programs, another target of the Trump administration.
"I think DEI is dead, so if they want to scrub the websites, that's OK with me," Trump told reporters on Jan. 31.
Polls on public support for transgender policy are mixed.
While polls indicate that a majority of Americans support the banning of trans women and girls from participating in female sports, some 55 per cent oppose the banning of transgender people serving in the military.
US Representative Nancy Mace, a Republican from South Carolina, has been one of the most vocal supporters of Trump's transgender policies.
"Let's be clear: biological sex is real, and no amount of wordplay will change that," she said in a statement to Reuters.
"Transgender individuals, like all Americans, have the same rights under the Constitution. But those rights don't include forcing others to deny biological reality," Mace said.
At least one transgender activist said much of the Democratic Party and other allies have failed to forcefully oppose the Trump measures, leaving trans people — an estimated 0.6 per cent of the population who are disproportionately the victims of crime — to fend for themselves.
"What Donald Trump and his sycophants are doing is essentially violence against trans people. It is essentially trying to erase us," said Angelica Christina, a New York-based activist and board member of the Stonewall Inn Gives Back Initiative, a nonprofit advocacy.
"We will stand up against this oppression, but it is relentless.
Retired teacher Dawn, who gave only her first name, said she had come to Friday's protest at the monument to speak up for her belief that all humans should be loved and welcomed.
“With all these battles to be fought, why would you focus on taking the trans and the queer out of this monument?" she said.
"It makes no sense. It's mean, it's cruel, it's terrible."
ALSO READ: Trump team makes confused start to Ukraine diplomacy
Source: Reuters
