A petition urging the Trump administration to reinstate transgender representation on the Stonewall Uprising page of the National Park Service (NPS) website has gathered over 25,000 signatures.
The controversy began after the NPS revised its description of the Stonewall National Monument, omitting references to transgender and non-binary individuals who played a pivotal role in the 1969 uprising. The updated text now only acknowledges lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals, excluding the broader LGBTQ+ acronym.
Backlash Over Historical Erasure
LGBTQ+ activists, historians, and advocates have condemned the change, arguing that it disregards the vital contributions of transgender women, particularly trans women of color, in the fight for LGBTQ+ rights. Among those erased from the updated history is Marsha P. Johnson, a Black trans woman who was instrumental in the uprising.
Johnson, along with Sylvia Rivera, co-founded the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR), an organisation dedicated to supporting homeless transgender youth in New York City. Their activism helped shape the LGBTQ+ rights movement, making their exclusion from the monument’s historical account a point of contention.
Protests and Activism
On February 16, trans activist Tanya Asapansa-Johnson Walker led protests outside the Stonewall Inn, where hundreds gathered to demand the restoration of transgender visibility in the monument’s narrative.
“Trans people have been here since the beginning of time,” she said. “We fought in all the wars. We’re creators, we have families and children. We’re just as much a part of this world as anyone else. We’re here to stay and we will not be erased by a Christo-fascist, neo-Nazi administration.”
The petition, launched by the activism platform Care2, calls for the immediate reinstatement of transgender history on the Stonewall Uprising page. Care2 has accused the Trump administration of engaging in “deliberate harm” by erasing the contributions of trans activists like Johnson and Rivera.
The Fight for Historical Accuracy
A spokesperson for Care2 criticised the NPS’s decision, calling it “shocking and unjust.” They emphasised that by omitting transgender individuals’ contributions, the agency is erasing a crucial part of LGBTQ+ history.
“At the heart of this erasure lies the legacy of Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, two transgender women of color whose bravery and activism helped launch a movement that continues to this day,” they stated. “Their contributions to the uprising and their work in founding STAR to support homeless trans youth cannot simply be erased.”
The petition is rapidly approaching its goal of 30,000 signatures. Care2’s open letter insists that the government restore transgender representation to the monument’s historical account, not only for accuracy but also to ensure future generations understand the full scope of LGBTQ+ history.
“Transgender people have always been a central part of the LGBTQ+ movement, and we cannot allow them to be written out of history,” the letter states.
Wider Implications for LGBTQ+ Rights
The removal of transgender history from the Stonewall Uprising page comes amid growing concerns over LGBTQ+ rights under the Trump administration. Critics view this move as part of a broader effort to marginalise the transgender community and erase their visibility from historical and public narratives.
For now, the petition continues to gain momentum as LGBTQ+ advocates demand the full and inclusive representation of transgender individuals in the story of the struggle for equality.
