The National Park Service has removed all references to “queer” and “transgender” on the Stonewall National Monument, at the Stonewall Inn in New York City where trans women kicked off the modern LGBTQ rights movement by fighting back against a police raid. Journalist Ari Drennen reported on X that the picture of legendary trans activist Sylvia Rivera on the NPS website is now captioned, “At a young age Sylvia began fighting for gay and rights”. I guess all the proofreaders have been sent to re-education camps already.
Want to get on a government watchlist? Go to the NPS website and press the “No” button for “Was this website helpful?”, then leave a comment telling them to put trans people back the fuck on the sign, you fucking cowards.
I have been unsuccessfully applying for a National Endowment for the Arts grant since Ronald Reagan was president. ($25,000 went a lot further then.) Good thing I didn’t bother renewing my extremely cumbersome Grants.gov login this year. A new page on their website, “Legal Requirements and Assurance of Compliance,” instructs applicants to pledge that they will not “operate any programs promoting “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI)” or “promote gender ideology, pursuant to Executive Order No. 14168, Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.” Gee, does this mean they don’t want my fantasy novel about a transgender Black minister and his Indian psychiatrist husband using witchcraft to defeat Christian nationalism?
I learned about the NEA debacle from the fuck-you letter that the venerable poetry publisher Tupelo Press posted on social media. Here it is on Instagram. “If adherence to our principles means that we will be ineligible for NEA grants going forward, so be it. Compliance with the new regulations would be immoral.” Send them a donation or buy some books. May I suggest Manoleria by Daniel Khalastchi, The Next Ancient World by Jennifer Michael Hecht, or Butch Geography and The Lake Has No Saint by Stacey Waite.
You’ve heard by now that Trump and Netanyahu are plotting to turn Gaza into Mar-A-Lago East by encouraging the Palestinians to live somewhere else. Jewish Voice for Peace shared this petition on social media, Jewish People Say No to Ethnic Cleansing. It was published as a full-page ad in the NY Times on Feb. 13. Notable signatories include Holocaust survivor and trauma specialist Gabor Maté, queer theorist Judith Butler, playwright Wallace Shawn, actor Joaquin Phoenix, and a long list of rabbis and cantors. Add your name too.