President Donald Trump is facing backlash over a controversial change to a historical monument, with critics condemning the move as “cruel and petty”.
On Thursday (February 13), the National Park Service (NPS) revealed that it removed all references to “transgender” people from New York’s Stonewall National Monument official website due to an executive order signed by the 78-year-old president.
The order, signed on his first day back in the office, was described as an effort to “restore biological truth to the federal government,” per the White House website.
The Stonewall National Monument, located in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village, was established in 2016 to honor the historic 1969 Stonewall Uprising, which was a pivotal moment in the fight for LGBTQ+ rights.
The movement was led by both gay and trans activists, yet recent changes to the site’s official federal description now excludes any mention of transgender individuals.
Previously, the website acknowledged the monument’s significance in the struggle for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) rights. But in the updated version, the term “LGBTQ” has been shortened to “LGB.”
The website now reads: “Before the 1960s, almost everything about living openly as a lesbian, gay, bisexual (LGB) person was illegal. The Stonewall Uprising on June 28, 1969, is a milestone in the quest for LGB civil rights and provided momentum for a movement.”
Trump’s decision has been slammed on social media, with many Democratic lawmakers and LGBTQ+ advocates expressing their outrage.
