The National Park Service has scrubbed references to transgender and queer people from the website of a monument to the 1969 Stonewall riots, a foundational moment in the struggle for LGBTQ rights, igniting protests in New York City on Friday.
The move comes as President Donald Trump has sought a return to a strict binary definition of gender in the United States, leading attacks on transgender people and issuing an executive order that states the country only has two genders鈥攎ale and female.
The website鈥攎anaged by the National Park Service, a branch of the federal government鈥攈ad provided information about the monument, which includes a visitor centre as well as the famed Stonewall Inn.
The small Greenwich Village gay bar was raided by police on June 28, 1969, igniting six days of rioting that birthed the modern gay rights movement, later extended to transgender and non-binary people, who do not identify as male or female.
But on Friday the widely-used 鈥楲GBTQ鈥� acronym鈥攚hich stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer鈥攈ad been changed throughout the website to 鈥淟GB鈥� and all reference to transgender or queer people erased.
Several hundred people carried signs bearing slogans such as 鈥楽ilence = death鈥� and 鈥榯here鈥檚 no Stonewall without the T鈥� as they rallied in New York City against the move.
鈥楾his is just cruel and petty,鈥� posted New York governor Kathy Hochul on social media.
鈥楾ransgender people play a critical role in the fight for LGBTQ+ rights鈥攁nd New York will never allow their contributions to be erased,鈥� she wrote.
Trump has demonised any recognition of gender diversity, attacking transgender people鈥攏otably transgender women in sports鈥攁nd gender-affirming care for children鈥攊n both his rhetoric and in executive orders.