President Donald Trump’s executive order declaring the recognition of only two genders is now threatening to erase a key part of American history.

Last week, the National Park Service removed any mention of transgender and queer people from the Stonewall National Monument website. 

Consequentially, more than 1,000 people gathered at Christopher Park in Manhattan on Valentine’s Day to protest the government’s attempt to rewrite LGBTQ history. 

“Let us be clear: Stonewall is transgender history. Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera and countless other trans and gender-nonconforming individuals fought bravely, and often at great personal risk, to push back against oppressive systems,” said Stacy Lentz, CEO and co-owner of the Stonewall Inn, a historic gay bar and site of the 1969 riots. 

“Their courage, sacrifice and leadership were central to the resistance we now celebrate as the foundation of the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement.” 

Johnson and Rivera were drag queens and prominent figures in the Gay Liberation Front. Known as the “Mayor of Christopher Street,” Johnson’s body was found floating in the Hudson River in 1992 in what was initially ruled a suicide by NYPD, but later reopened as a possible homicide. To date, no arrests have been made. 

Meanwhile, New York Attorney General, Letitia James, blasted the Trump administration. 

“Erasing references to the transgender community is bigoted, despicable and dangerous,” James posted on X. “Trans rights are human rights. Transgender people are people. In New York, we will always honor transgender individuals’ existence and fight for their rights.”