Months after removing all mentions of transgender people from its website for the Stonewall National Monument, the National Park Service (NPS) has removed all mentions of bisexual people, too.

Transgender journalist Erin Reed noted that the Stonewall National Monument page once said, “Before the 1960s, almost everything about living openly as a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer (LGBTQ+) person was illegal.” The newly revised version says, “Before the 1960s, almost everything about living authentically as a gay or lesbian person was illegal.”

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On the monument’s “History and Culture” webpage, the statement declaring that “Stonewall was a milestone for LGBTQ civil rights that provided momentum for a movement” now says, “Stonewall was a milestone for gay and lesbian civil rights.”

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Additionally, the page once said that living “openly as an LGBTQ+ person was a violation of law.” It now says that living “openly as a member of the Stonewall comunity |sic| was a violation of law.”

To be clear, no one in the LGBTQ+ community has ever used the phrase “the Stonewall community” — it is a near-meaningless phrase that obscures the historical persecution of people for their non-heterosexual sexual orientations and their non-cisgender gender identities and presentations.

In response to the erasures, Reed wrote, “Bisexual, transgender, and queer people were at the forefront of the Stonewall movement. Though the language was still evolving, many of the patrons defied conventional categories of gender and sexuality, refusing to be neatly classified. Erasing them from Stonewall is not only historically false—it is a deliberate act of political revisionism.”

“The recent removal of ‘bisexual’ from official Pride histories is a warning: attacks on transgender people will never stop with us,” Reed added. “They are part of a broader effort to narrow the scope of who is allowed to belong, to be seen, and even to be remembered.”

In mid-February, the NPS removed all mentions of transgender people from its website for the Stonewall National Monument in order to comply with the president’s executive orders prohibiting any federal recognition of trans people in any aspect of civic life.

Numerous federal webpages began removing all mentions of trans people and gender identity after a January 29 directive from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) telling federal agencies to “end federal funding of gender ideology” in programming, policies, and outward-facing media. The directive reflects Republicans’ larger crusade against all diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts by government bodies and private businesses.

“This is just cruel and petty,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) wrote in an X post after the NPS removed all mentions of trans people from the monument’s webpage. “Transgender people play a critical role in the fight for LGBTQ+ rights – and New York will never allow their contributions to be erased,” she added.

The Stonewall Inn and its non-profit, the Stonewall Inn Gives Back Initiative, said in a statement, “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.”

Former President Barack Obama designated the site as a national monument in 2016, the first such site dedicated to LGBTQ+ rights.

In response to the erasure, thousands of LGBTQ+ New Yorkers have protested at the monument. The NPS also told photographer, advocate, and installation creator Steven Love Mendez that the monument will not display trans or Progress Pride flags this year, despite doing so in past years.

Nevertheless, many New Yorkers and tourists have visited the monument and set up unauthorized Pride flags in protest, including smaller trans flags planted in the soil.

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