NYCLA’s LGBTQ Issues in the Law Committee & NYCLA Officers Issue Statement on Erasure of Queer (the “Q”) & Trans (the “T”) People from the Stonewall Memorial Entry on the National Parks Service Website

As the representative Committee of the New York County Lawyers Association, we denounce the erasure of queer (the “Q”) and trans (the “T”) people from the entry for the Stonewall Memorial on the National Parks Service website (available at https://www.nps.gov/ston/index.htm [last accessed February 14, 2025]). The Stonewall Memorial, New York County has served, and will continue to serve, as a powerful reminder of the fight, which continues to this day, for full equality for all members of the LGBTQIA2S+ community.

Despite the best efforts of the current administration, the efforts of icons such as Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera and their contributions to the Stonewall uprising will not be erased. The Committee – together with NYCLA’s senior officers – denounce what is clearly an effort by the federal administration to elevate certain members of the LGBTQIA2S+ community at the expense of others. The White House has hardly been shy about its disdain for diverse groups and transgender people, in particular. This attempt to reframe Stonewall as a monument to LGB people, only, is no more than a divisive and poorly conceived effort at sewing discord within our community. And it will fail.

Our community will not accept this. As a Committee, we are devoted to advancing the rights of all members of the LGBTQIA2S+ community, and we will continue to elevate the voices of every shade of the rainbow. Joined by NYCLA’s senior officers, we demand equality, acceptance, and recognition for ALL members of our community. We will continue to employ an intersectional lens, and understand that race, gender, age, disability, homelessness, and immigration status must all be considered in the fight for the LGBTQIA2S+ community. We will continue to tell the stories of all who came before us, honoring the proud history of the entire LGBTQIA2S+ community. Our community will never be reduced to only three letters.

About the New York County Lawyers Association
The New York County Lawyers Association (nycla.org) was founded in 1908 as one of the first major bar associations in the country that admitted members without regard to race, ethnicity, religion or gender, and has a long history of supporting the rights of LGBTQ+ people. Since its inception, NYCLA has pioneered some of the most far-reaching and tangible reforms in American jurisprudence. For more information on NYCLA please visit nycla.org.

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