NPS Removes LGBTQ+ Audio Tour of Beacon Hill and Downtown Boston

Submitted by Emily Arendt

May 2, 2025

At a time when the Trump Administration is quickly altering public interpretations of history and removing references to the past on websites and public spaces, it is vital that historians keep track of what is changing. The Early Republic Tracker is dedicated to documenting instances where the federal government is removing facts and stories essential to the public’s understanding American history from public historical sites, museums, websites, and executive agencies.

Where/When did the changes take place?

National Park Service Website, circa February 2025

What changed?

The National Park Service removed “Their Dreams, Their Rights, and Their Love:” A LGBTQ+ Audio Tour of Beacon Hill and Downtown Boston from their website.

Why does the change matter?

The audio tour highlights the history of the LGBTQ+ community in the greater Boston area, featuring information on the roles of queer figures such as Sarah Orne Jewett, an influential 19th century novelist. Prior to the removal of the page housing the audio tour, the NPS site emphasized the ways that the history of the LGBTQ+ community “asked and answered the fundamental American questions – about freedom, voice, and how change is made.” Its removal marks another attempt to sanitize and render invisible elements of the past that are essential for producing a well-rounded account of American history. In particular, the erasure of transgender people from the American past (as in the case of the removal of the words “transgender” and “queer” from the NPS narratives of Stonewall National Monument) fails to do justice to the the complex and diverse history of all Americans.

Website/location/document where change was made?