The government-run Stonewall National Monument website has erased mentions of bisexuality, inciting backlash from the LGBTQ+ community. The erasure of bisexuality from the site follows changes made earlier this year that wiped all mentions of trans people from the site, despite the fact that the famous Stonewall Riots were led by trans women.
According to Them, as of late last week the page dedicated to the monument on the National Park Service reads: “Before the 1960s, almost everything about living authentically as a gay or lesbian person was illegal. The Stonewall Uprising on June 28, 1969 is a milestone in the quest for civil rights and provided momentum for a movement.” The removal of bisexual and transgender is an affront to everyone in the LGBTQ+ community.
Stacy Lentz, CEO of The Stonewall Inn Gives Back Initiative, told Them that the Stonewall Inn bar and charity are not affiliated. “We find it deeply troubling that any government agency would erase bisexual people from their public-facing materials,” she said. “Stonewall has always welcomed and celebrated the full spectrum of our community—and that will never change.”
Recent changes to government websites reflect the agenda of the Trump administration which has sought to limit LGBTQ+ freedoms with a slew of anti-trans and anti-DEI executive orders.
Owner of the Stonewall Inn, Kurt Kelly, told Them, “the erasure of bisexual people from federal websites is not just a digital oversight, it’s a deliberate act of invisibility that harms an already marginalized part of our LGBTQ+ community.”
