UPDATE: Mark Segal, activist and founder/publisher of The Philadelphia Gay News, is also a veteran of the Stonewall Riots and one of the founders of The Gay Liberation Front, created in the days following the riots. Today (Friday, Feb. 14) he issued a statement in response to the National Park Service’s removal of references to transgender and queer people from the Stonewall National Monument:
“The spirit of Stonewall means to be visible and fight back against oppression. You cannot erase the history of Stonewall by erasing a letter. You cannot erase trans people by erasing a letter. This petty, vindictive action is an attempt to not only erase trans people from public view, but also the entire LGBT community. Stonewall, including all of us in the LGBT community who fought back that historic night and have continued to fight for 55 years, cannot and will not be erased. We will continue to fight, we will continue to be visible and persevere, and I urge all in our community to remember this day as the beginning of the second Stonewall rebellion.”
ORIGINAL POST: National and local LGBTQ organizations and activists are calling for a protest at noon Friday, Feb. 14 — Valentine’s Day — at the Stonewall National Monument in Christopher Park, 7th Avenue South at Christopher Street in West Village, New York City, in response to actions taken earlier today (Thursday, Feb. 13) by the National Park Service to remove “transgender” and “queer” from the monument.
The Stonewall Inn, designated as a National Monument by President Barack Obama in 2016, is the site of the June riots sparked by police attempts to stage yet another raid on The Stonewall Inn, a gay club frequented by transgender women, butch lesbians and other gender-diverse people as well as gay men and lesbians.
The riots are commonly considered to be the beginning of the modern LGBTQ rights movement.
An online announcement about the called protest reads:
“NO LGB WITHOUT THE T
The Trump Administration has erased trans people from the stonewall national monument website… we will not allow Trump and his hatemongers to redefine our communities or our history!”
The Stonewall Inn and the Stonewall Inn Gives Back Initiative issued the following statement today:
“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.”
— Tammye Nash