The Trump administration is attacking the LGBTQ+—particularly the trans—community on multiple fronts, including the erasure of trans and LGBTQ+ history. LGBTQ+ historians are speaking out and taking action over this violence.
Over 350 scholars signed on to an open letter criticizing the removal of the words “transgender” and “queer” and references to trans participation in the Stonewall Uprising from the National Park Service webpage about the Stonewall National Monument. The webpage changed LGBTQ to LGB on February 13, calling the Stonewall Uprising “a milestone in the quest for LGB civil rights” and calling the rainbow pride flag “a symbol for LGB diversity and rights.” The scholars’ letter says that “these changes are not supported by the historical record concerning the events that the monument commemorates.”
Over 1,000 people rallied in protest of the removal in front of the Stonewall Inn the very next day. Attendees were reminded that the National Park Service is not the only entity charged with telling the story of Stonewall. We (the LGBTQ+ community) have told it before recognition from the federal government and we will tell it without that.
A speaker told the crowd they can access the full history of Stonewall at StonewallForever.org and the Stonewall National Visitor Center run by non-profit organization Pride Live reiterated that they are independent and will continue to tell the full trans-inclusive history of Stonewall. The Stonewall Inn Gives Back Initiative and the Stonewall Inn also stated they stand with trans-inclusive history.
Historians also took action to preserve the LGBTQ+ history on federal government websites before they were deleted. They successfully saved the groundbreaking LGBTQ America: A Theme Study of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer History published in 2016 by uploading it to LGBTQ+ history website OutHistory.
OutHistory made its own statement, reminding the LGBTQ+ community that we have power, that the backlash to the Trump administration’s action shows our power, and that we can learn from our history of facing oppression before.
“They think they can erase trans and queer people from history, remove trans women of color from the history of Stonewall, pretend that LGBTQ+ people did not exist, did not struggle, did not fight, did not suffer, did not survive, did not thrive. If they think any of this, they have never experienced or witnessed our perseverance, our rage, our resilience, our joy,” Marc Stein and the OutHistory Advisory Board wrote.
“We have been here before. We have been here for a long time, in many places and times, and we have been here before. We will be here again, and again, and again. Our histories have been appropriated, censored, commodified, distorted, erased, falsified, marginalized, pathologized, rejected, silenced, and simplified,” they wrote. “They think they can remove us from the past, present, and future, but we are historical, we are here, and we will return. They think they can take away our bathrooms, our books, our classes, our education, our health, our jobs, our passports, our stories, our histories, but we will take these back.”
The International Committee on LGBTQ+ History Months also weighed in with representatives from 12 foreign countries showing solidarity.
“The eradication of books, knowledge, records, and groups never ends well, and the Trump administration’s actions embolden others around the world,” they said. “We ask the federal administration in the United States to stop its search-and-destroy mission meant to annihilate the advances and gains of LGBTQ+ human rights, LGBTQ+ persons, and LGBTQ+ history over the last several decades.”
The GLBT Historical Society is one of the eight non-profit organizations to sue the Trump administration with Lambda Legal over his anti-LGBTQ+ executive orders. By taking legal action in the name of our history, the Society shows one way the LGBTQ+ history community is fighting back beyond statements.
“These executive orders seek to erase the very existence and the rich history of the LGBTQ+ community by targeting the most vulnerable among us,” Roberto Ordeñana, the executive director of the GLBT Historical Society, stated. “Let me be clear: stripping the words ‘Transgender’ and ‘Queer’ from government websites and publications is nothing less than digital book burning. Our history and culture bind us together, and no one can take that away.”