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Earlier this year, the petty-minded Orange Man in The White House very crudely and cackhandedly set about destroying or rewriting this country’s history (and it’s not just about Epstein we should add). One of the things that got the chop was National Park Service removed “Their Dreams, Their Rights, and Their Love,” an LGBTQ+ audio tour of Beacon Hill and Downtown Boston, from its website.

While the National Park Service, under the direction of the Trump Administration, can decide what to display on their website, this tour belongs to the public — not the politicians. Work created by government employees in their official roles is public domain and should be available to our community as we continue to fight for visibility, truth and joy.  Hence the wonderful independent THE HISTORY PROJECT  which exists to document, preserve, and share queer and trans stories; their work is especially vital when institutions fail to protect or respect our history.

So they’ve made this tour accessible again, and so thanks to them you can walk through queer and trans history in resistance against those who want to erase us. The Project is one of the local organizations who.are trying to fill the gaps the Boston NPS has left behind.  

Joan Ilacqua, executive director of The History Project said the federal government’s move to strip public history of transgender and queer perspectives shows that creating space for independent repositories is ever more crucial. Trump’s executive orders add uncertainty to a community that has always preserved history with limited resources and hands on deck.  She added  “We’re already coming from this scarcity mindset, that urgency has always been there.”

To all of us who feel they are drowning in this deluge of destruction  that we need to deal with, this is a small step, but a crucial reminder, we must fight back in our own way.  We are greatly indebted to The History Project