On the deplorable actions by the National Park Service

There's a lot of terrible news coming out of the United States these days, so much of it that it seems difficult keeping track of everything, but this patently transparent bit of hate does bear a specific call out:

The National Park Service has removed all mentions of the words "transgender" and "queer" from its web page dedicated to the Stonewall National Monument, a site that marks a landmark moment for LGBTQ rights quite literally led by transgender and gender non-conforming people.

The site's online hub for the New York visitor centre and park honouring the 1969 Stonewall Uprising, a turning point for LGBTQ activism and civil rights in America, now only makes reference to "LGB civil rights," omitting the T and Q representing transgender and queer people in the acronym.

Erasing our history requires more than deleting text on a website, but capitulation here will lead to more extensive reality retcons.

And, let me be emphatic here: any queer people aiding and abetting this bullshit under the pretext of thinking they're going to spare themselves from similar trouble is delusional and throwing their community under the bus in the name of self-preservation they're never going to get. You can't nice your way out of fascism.

I'll also leave with this from Heather Cox Richardson:

Protesters today packed Christopher Park in New York City’s Greenwich Village near the Stonewall National Monument after the Trump administration erased “TQ+” from the LGBTQ+ on the monument’s website. The Stonewall Uprising of 1969, six days of conflict between police and LGBTQ+ protesters after police raided the Stonewall Inn, brought the longstanding efforts of LGBTQ+ activists for civil rights to popular attention, making Stonewall a symbol of LGBTQ+ rights.

Trans activists Marsha P. Johnson and Silvia Rivera were key figures in the Stonewall Uprising. Acknowledging their contribution, one protester held a sign that read, “NATIONAL PARK SERVICE: YOU CAN’T SPELL HISTORY WITHOUT A ‘T’”

Former Republican operative Stuart Stevens had a different take. He posted: “When I see the sexual orientation hate come out of the Republican party under the pretext of just being anti-Trans, I am very tempted to name the Republican operatives and elected officials who are closeted gays. It’s not a short list.”