NPS Continues To Try Erasing Transgender People From History
Pages on prominent transgender activists and additional LGBTQ+ history has been deleted from the NPS website.
The National Parks Service has taken the erasure of the transgender community even further by deleting pages dedicated to revolutionary transgender activists Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera. This erasure comes three weeks after the “T” in “LGBTQ+” was removed from the Stonewall National Monument’s website, along with any other references to transgender people.
Johnson and Rivera are two of the most prominent figures of the Stonewall Inn Uprising. They led a series of protests in the wake of the police raid that took place at The Stonewall Inn, where queer people were harmed and arrested. These activists fought for the right for queer people to live life openly and unapologetically. To remove their hard work is a slap in the face to the entire queer community.
First reported by NPR, NPS has removed the letters “T” for transgender and “Q” for queer from the LGBTQ acronym, but only on some NPS pages. A photo of Johnson can still be found on the NPS website; however, it makes no mention of her role and who she is. Pages about The Pride Guide, queer history in Philadelphia, Pauli Murray, ClubHouse Bar, Jemima Wilkinson, The Civil Rights Act of 1964’s impacts on LGBTQ+ Americans, the impacts of the Lavender Scare, the Matthew Shepard Memorial, the Franklin E. Kameny residence, and the AIDS Memorial Quilt have also disappeared.
The National Parks Conservation Association is pushing for the federal government to restore the deleted pages. “Following an analysis of National Park Service web content, the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) found the federal government has deleted and scrubbed more than a dozen National Park Service web pages related to LGBTQ+ history,” the statement reads. “NPCA unequivocally condemns these changes and calls on the Department of the Interior to restore these educational and historical documents for the public without delay.”
The NPS said in a statement to NPR that they are complying with Executive Order 14168 and Secretary’s Order 2416, two orders signed by President Trump that aim to end DEI initiatives and assert that transgender, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming people do not exist.
Since Trump has taken office, these changes against LGBTQ+ history have followed an agenda to make it harder for transgender and nonbinary people to live safely. That means removing transgender and nonbinary people from everyday life wherever possible. Whether it’s recognizing only two genders, withholding hospitals’ federal funding over gender-affirming care, or erasing transgender history from federal websites such as the NPS, these ongoing forms of erasure are an attempt to rewrite history.
Related: Gavin Newsom Just Threw Trans Athletes Under The Proverbial Bus
Queer people will continue to exist and have always existed, but with oppressive systems of power controlling what history is visible and available, it’s our responsibility to keep telling the stories of Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera, and the history that made us.
