The War on LGBTQ+ History

The War on LGBTQ+ History

Government Directives

U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission, “America 250: Years in the Making,” 2025, https://america250.org/

Heritage Foundation, “America’s 250^th Anniversary,” 2025, https://www.heritage.org/a250

Doug Burgum, Department of the Interior SO 3431: “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” 20 May 2025, https://www.doi.gov/document-library/secretary-order/so-3431-restoring-truth-and-sanity-american-history

Lindsey Halligan, Vince Haley, and Russell Vought to Lonnie G. Bunchy III, “Letter to the Smithsonian: Internal Review of Smithsonian Exhibitions and Materials,” 12 Aug. 2025, https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/2025/08/letter-to-the-smithsonian-internal-review-of-smithsonian-exhibitions-and-materials/.

Media Stories and Organizational Responses

“American Historical Association and Organization of American Historians Statement on Executive Order ‘Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling,’” 5 Feb. 2025, https://www.oah.org/advocacy-statement/oah-issues-statement-on-executive-order-ending-radical-indoctrination-in-k-12-schooling/

David W. Blight, Beth English, and James Grossman, “Trump May Wish to Abolish Past; We Historians Will Not,” New Republic, 6 Feb. 2025, https://newrepublic.com/article/191205/trump-abolish-past-historians-education

Caleb Smith, “Hundreds of LGBTQI+ Resources Censored by the Trump Administration,” Center for American Progress, 13 Feb. 2025, https://www.americanprogress.org/article/hundreds-of-lgbtqi-resources-censored-by-the-trump-administration/

Juliana Kim, “Park Service Erases ‘Transgender’ on Stonewall Website, Uses the Term ‘LGB’ Movement,” NPR, 14 Feb. 2025, https://www.npr.org/2025/02/14/g-s1-48923/stonewall-monument-transgender-park-service

Marc Stein and the OutHistory Advisory Board, “LGBTQ+ People Have Been Here Before: The Power of Our History,” OutHistory, 20 Feb. 2025, https://outhistory.org/exhibits/show/herebefore/powerofourhistory

“A Response to the National Park Service's Erasure of LGBTQ History,” OutHistory, Feb. 2025,

Wendy Rouse, “The Queer History of Women’s Suffrage: Scholarship and Censorship in 2025,” OutHistory, Feb. 2025, https://outhistory.org/exhibits/show/suff

“American Historical Association and Organization of American Historians Joint Statement on Condemning Federal Censorship of American History,” 13 Mar. 2025, https://www.oah.org/advocacy-statement/oah-issues-statement-condemning-federal-censorship-of-american-history/

American Historical Association, “Historians Defend the Smithsonian,” 31 Mar. 2025, https://www.historians.org/news/historians-defend-the-smithsonian/

Organization of American Historians, “Statement on Executive Order ‘Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,’” 31 Mar. 2025, https://www.oah.org/2025/03/31/statement-on-executive-order-restoring-truth-and-sanity-to-american-history/

“Trumping the Trumpians: OutHistory and American Oversight, 2025,” OutHistory, May 2025, https://outhistory.org/exhibits/show/trumping

National Parks Conservation Association, “New Park Signs Undermine Rangers, Aim to Erase History,” 12 June 2025, https://www.npca.org/articles/9321-new-park-signs-undermine-rangers-aim-to-erase-history

Organization of American Historians, “Statement in Response to Secretary Order 3431 and Censorship of History in the National Park Service,” 18 June 2025, https://www.oah.org/advocacy-statement/statement-in-response-to-secretary-order-3431-and-censorship-of-history-in-the-national-park-service/

Christine Hauser, “Pentagon Strips Harvey Milk’s Name from Navy Vessel,” New York Times, 27 June 2025, https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/27/us/politics/usns-harvey-milk-navy-ship-name-hegseth.html

Wendy Rouse, “Confronting the Rainbow Panic: Historical Erasure and Censorship of LGBTQ+ History in the 2020s,” Perspectives, 17 July 2025, https://www.historians.org/perspectives-article/confronting-the-rainbow-panic/

Jen Manion, “Learning History Is Righteous Form of Resistance,” The New Republic, 8 Aug. 2025, https://newrepublic.com/article/198373/learning-history-righteous-form-resistance

Graham Smith, Michele Kelemen, Nick McMillan, and Alyson Hurt, “State Department Slahes Its Annual Report on Human Rights,” NPR, 12 Aug. 2025, https://www.npr.org/2025/08/12/nx-s1-5495621/state-department-human-rights-reports-slashed.

Aishvarya Kavi, “Florida Paints Over Rainbow Memorial for Victims of Pulse Nightclub Shooting,” New York Times, 23 Aug. 2025, https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/23/us/politics/orlando-pulse-shooting-rainbow-crosswalk-memorial.html