Behold The Spectacular Incompetence Of The Government’s Stonewall Fumble
As the National Park Service scrambles to rewrite history, activists are preparing to fight back, with a Friday protest planned at Stonewall.
The National Park Service (NPS) has clumsily erased transgender and queer history from the website for the Stonewall National Monument. The series of edits—frantic, confusing, and above all, insulting—expose misuse of government resources and a lack of basic logic.
Here’s what the website looked like before the trigger-happy edits:
The text read, “Before the 1960s, almost everything about living openly as a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer (LGBTQ+) person was illegal.”
Step One: “LGBQ+”? What Is That?
The debacle began Thursday mid-day when the NPS scrubbed all mentions of “transgender” from the page, leaving the acronym LGBTQ+ reduced to “LGBQ+.” Apparently, no one realized that “LGBQ+” is not a thing.
Related: Trump Signs Executive Order Banning Trans Athletes From Women’s Sports
New York City Council Member Erik Bottcher shared a screenshot of the new site on Thursday, writing, “The Trump administration has erased transgender people from the Stonewall National Monument website. We will not allow them to erase the very existence of our siblings. We are one community!!”:
Step Two: A Hasty Fix Makes Things Worse
Once someone presumably Googled “LGBQ+” and realized they’d invented a nonsense term, the site was edited again to remove the “Q+.” But the slapdash revision still left the word “queer” intact, creating a bizarre contradiction.
The new site read, “Before the 1960s, almost everything about living openly as a lesbian, gay, bisexual, or queer (LGB) person was illegal.”
It’s almost impressive how much work went into getting this wrong.
Step Three: Just Delete Everything, That’ll Fix It
Finally, NPS removed “queer” altogether. Now, the page is scrubbed of any reference to transgender or queer people—the very people who played a crucial role in the Stonewall uprising. Their desperate attempt to revise history only highlights their disrespect for it.
Related: Trump Wiped Out Vital LGBTQ+ Health Info—Now A Judge Is Ordering Its Revival
The Stonewall Inn and the Stonewall Inn Gives Back Initiative issued the following statement in response:
“The Stonewall Inn and The Stonewall Inn Gives Back Initiative are outraged and appalled by the recent removal of the word ‘transgender’ from the Stonewall National Monument page on the National Park Service website. This blatant act of erasure not only distorts the truth of our history, but it also dishonors the immense contributions of transgender individuals — especially transgender women of color — who were at the forefront of the Stonewall Riots and the broader fight for LGBTQ+ rights.
“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. Their courage, sacrifice, and leadership were central to the resistance we now celebrate as the foundation of the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement.
“This decision to erase the word ‘transgender’ is a deliberate attempt to erase our history and marginalize the very people who paved the way for many victories we have achieved as a community. It is a direct attack on transgender people, especially transgender women of color, who continue to face violence, discrimination, and erasure at every turn.
“We demand the immediate restoration of the word ‘transgender’ on the Stonewall National Monument website. We will not stand by while the legacies of our transgender siblings are erased from the history books. The Stonewall Inn and The Stonewall Inn Gives Back Initiative stands unwaveringly in solidarity with the transgender community and all who fight for full equality, and we will not rest until this grave injustice is corrected.”
A Protest at the Birthplace of Pride
The backlash to this digital erasure has been swift. LGBTQ+ activists are calling for accountability, and a protest is planned for Friday at noon outside the Stonewall Inn. Community leaders are demanding that NPS restore the historical record and acknowledge the contributions of transgender people to the LGBTQ+ rights movement.
This incident aligns with Trump’s broader campaign against transgender Americans, affecting everything from military service to healthcare to participation in sports. The administration’s actions represent a systematic effort to undermine the rights and recognition of transgender people in the United States. The erasure of transgender and queer references from the Stonewall National Monument website is a stark example of this agenda, aiming to rewrite history and marginalize communities that have been integral to the fight for LGBTQ+ rights.
And no matter how many times the National Park Service fumbles with a delete button, they can’t erase that truth.
