The tiny Christopher Park was packed to the fences Friday afternoon.
Transgender advocates and allies voiced their anger and frustration after references to “trans” and “queer” were removed from the National Park Service’s website for the Stonewall National Monument, widely regarded as the birthplace of the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement.
“What we are seeing play out in real time by this evil administration is an attempted gendercide of trans folks,” Angelica Christina, a board member of the Stonewall Inn Gives Back Initiative and a trans woman, said.
“They are targeting us the way they targeted Jews and Black people and gypsies in Nazi Germany,” Tanya Asapansa-Johnson Walker, a trans activist and co-founder of the New York Trans Advocacy Group, said.
“I’m a trans kid, and I’m missing school right now to be here,” 17-year-old Lorelei Crean said. “Because why am I studying for a future where I have no rights and my existence is not legally recognized?
Ever since 2016, when the monument was unveiled as the first national park dedicated to LGBTQ+ civil rights, the website has used the letters and symbol “LGBTQ+.” They stand for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer — and the plus sign refers to other gender identities not represented.
But by midday Thursday, the “T” had been removed, leaving “LGBQ+.” And by Thursday evening, the “Q” and the plus sign were gone as well, leaving only “LGB civil rights.”
The National Park Service in a statement said it was only “implementing” President Donald Trump’s executive order in which he proclaimed only two genders, as well as an Interior Department memo eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
“We are sending a message to Donald Trump: We will not let you erase the existence of our trans siblings,” Councilmember Erik Bottcher, who is also openly gay, said.
“The Trump administration’s work to ‘restore biological truth to the federal government’ is total bulls---,” Rep. Jerry Nadler said to cheers.
Advocates say the latest anti-trans move from the administration is especially painful, since it directly applies to the scene of the 1969 Stonewall riots, which were waged against police raids of gay bars. In those riots, trans women of color — like Marsha P. Johnson and Silvia Rivera — played a major role.
“So to come into the birthplace of pride as a government entity and try to erase an entire part of our community is appalling, alarming, and we must make sure this doesn’t continue,” Stacy Lentz, co-owner of the Stonewall Inn, said.
But while the list of speakers was long, some of them had more to say about elected leaders who weren’t present, suggesting the silence from Democrats in Washington in the wake of Trump’s attacks in recent weeks is “deafening.”
“We need them to get off their a--es and do their jobs,” Angelica Christina said.
One speaker, Marti Gould Cummings, specifically called out Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, suggesting they should have been present at the rally.
NY1 reached out to both Schumer and Jeffries’ offices. A spokesperson for Schumer says he was not in the city Friday, but he issued a statement.
“This move to try to erase transgender people from the Stonewall Monument is cruel, pathetic, and historically inaccurate,” Schumer said. “Transgender fellow New Yorkers played a critical role in the events at Stonewall and in the movement for equality that it inspired. The Park Service should reverse themselves immediately.”