How do you take the “T” out of Stonewall?

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In the Trump administration’s ongoing attempt to make transgender people disappear, they’ve removed the “T” from LGBT on the Stonewall National Monument webpage. How incredibly ironic (and stupid) is that? Do they think we’ll forget who started the resistance to the police raid? Do they think they can tell the history of Stonewall without mentioning the “T”?

Martha P. Johnson is, at least apocryphally, credited with throwing the first brick (or rock, or bottle, or whatever it might have been), as police raided the Stonewall Inn in 1969.

The National Park Service, is of course, bending to the Executive Order that Orange Idiot signed recently. I don’t know how they’re going to be able to tell the story of Stonewall without mentioning transgender activists who led the fight. In moments of cynicism, I suspect they’ll figure out some way to credit the resistance to some obscure white guy, a bit like a recent movie tried to do. (whatever happened to that movie? I think it might have clunked it’s way down to the basement of forgotten films rather quickly.)


From the National Park Service’s Stonewall opening page:

“By the time of Stonewall…we had 50 to 60 gay groups in the country. A year later…1500.”
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.

Check out our video series about the history of the Stonewall uprising, the LGB rights movement and Stonewall NM today!

Last updated: February 13, 2025

(bolding and italics added by me)

From another part of the Stonewall page on the National Park Service’s site I ran across the following:

(Someone missed some banned language and letters here.)


Stonewall National Monument

Stonewall National Monument

Read the President’s Proclamation delcaring (SIC) Stonewall National Monument

The Stonewall Inn, a bar located in Greenwich Village, New York City, was the scene of an uprising against police repression that led to a key turning point in the struggle for the civil rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Americans. In a pattern of harassment of LGBT establishments, the New York City police raided the Stonewall Inn in the early hours of Saturday, June 28, 1969. The reaction of the bar’s patrons and neighborhood residents that assembled in the street was not typical of these kinds of raids. Instead of dispersing, the crowd became increasingly angry and began chanting and throwing objects as the police arrested the bar’s employees and patrons. Reinforcements were called in by the police, and for several hours they tried to clear the streets while the crowd fought back. The initial raid and the riot that ensued led to six days of demonstrations and conflicts with law enforcement outside the bar, in nearby Christopher Park, and along neighboring streets. At its peak, the crowds included several thousand people.

The events of Stonewall, as the uprising is most commonly referred to, marked a major change in the struggle for “homophile rights” in the U.S., with lesbian women, gay men, bisexual and transgender people beginning to vocally and assertively demand their civil rights. Stonewall is regarded by many as the single most important catalyst for the dramatic expansion of the LGBT civil rights movement. The riots inspired LGBT people throughout the country to organize and within two years of Stonewall, LGBT rights groups had been started in nearly every major city in the U.S. Stonewall was, as historian Lillian Faderman wrote, “the shot heard round the world…crucial because it sounded the rally for the movement.”

Today, the site of the uprisings in Greenwich Village is recognized as a National Historic Landmark (NHL) by the National Park Service and is considered significant under NHL Criterion 1 because of its association with events that outstandingly represent the struggle for civil rights in America. This NHL includes the bar, Christopher Park, and the streets where the events of June 28-July 3, 1969, occurred. The Stonewall Inn is located at 51-53 Christopher Street, New York City, New York and is open to the public.


The link to the President’s Proclamation, however, leads to this page:

Now, I don’t think Trump himself is all that worked up about transgender people. It’s his minions, especially Elon Musk, who are driving this. Musk has misgendered and dead-named his trans child, so I suspect much of this erasing is coming from his personal hatred of transgenderism. He’s not a person used to not getting his way, and he’s striking out and hurting whoever he can. And he doesn’t care who gets hurt.

Oh, BTW, don’t let NPS know they missed some of the forbidden words on this page. Let us hope they’re there because someone at NPS’s IT office knows the Orange Idiot’s minions wouldn’t think to look past the splash page. shhhhhh

Stonewall

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stonewall50

Here is some information about the Stonewall Inn, and the riots that broke out there 50 years ago today.

Stonewall is the best remembered response to police raids and violence against the LGBT community, but it was not the first. Many other places saw patrons of LGBT-friendly establishments, both bars and other venues (even a donut shop in L.A.!), fight back against police harassment. We remember Stonewall because it inspired Pride Parades and festivals that have become traditional around the world in June.

 

Image: The Center on Colfax, Denver