Marsha P Johnson: A Chrome extension to highlight trans erasure

[jey]

Apparently this is the background context: https://www.npr.org/2025/02/14/g-s1-48923/stonewall-monument...

[jfengel]

I'm surprised that they bothered to replace the sign at all. I'd expect them to just remove it, the way they've eliminated all mention of homosexuality in other parts of the government.

I suspect that the monument itself will be disestablished, as soon as they get around to it.

[pessimizer]

> When describing the Stonewall Uprising, the website now reads: "Before the 1960s, almost everything about living openly as a lesbian, gay, bisexual (LGB) person was illegal, but the events at the Stonewall Inn sparked fresh momentum for the LGB civil rights movement!"

Were there any laws that affected trans people at all, though? There were laws against homosexual sex (covered by LGB), but I don't recall any laws about expressing gender identity.

[jjk7]

Why did they put a photo from 2001 in black and white? To make it seem older?

[abeppu]

This seems like a more timely and targeted revamp of Jailbreak the Patriarchy.

https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/jailbreak-the-patri...

[twerkmonsta]

How does this help anybody?

[II2II]

Directly? Nothing. Indirectly, it is raising awareness of what the current administration is either doing or enabling. It is also raising awareness of the Stonewall riots.

[ryuhhnn]

How does this comment help anybody or move the conversation forward?

[DFHippie]

It makes the people under attack feel less alone.

[moomin]

Let me ask a related question, how does employing the power of the federal government to do the reverse manually and at genuine cost to the taxpayer help anyone?

[pessimizer]

> I know, Marsha did not throw the first brick at Stonewall.

I assume that the intention is to confuse people. They at some point found out that Johnson wasn't at Stonewall until it was over, but still for some reason need that name to continue to be associated with the event. I assume the next extension will insert mentions of Saddam Hussein around any mention of 9/11, but include a disclaimer that says "I know Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with 9/11."

[daft_pink]

Are they going to make one that turns Gulf of America back into Gulf of Mexico?

[maxsilver]

> Nobody is erasing you

Except they are. The US Federal Government is actively erasing this group of people from all official web presence. It's literally why this Chrome extension exists at all.

[zapzupnz]

I know that on HN it is discouraged to say things like “did you even read the page?” But I feel it’s apt — not only will you see it’s an unsigned extension (so not on the Chrome Web Store, meaning the extension itself isn’t the channel for activism; the GitHub page’s README.md does that all on its own) but they provide examples of the trans erasure, particularly heinously by the US federal government.

The erasure you claim isn’t happening is right there, plain as day.

When you are not personally affected by something, clearly having no stakes in the matter, I borrow another example of what we generally avoid on HN but feels so apt: sit down.

[Stevvo]

[flagged]

[ryuhhnn]

Trans is an umbrella term that can be used to refer to anybody who does not identify with or express the gender they were assigned at birth (https://www.hrc.org/resources/sexual-orientation-and-gender-...). Having surgery and/or always presenting as a gender you weren't assigned at birth is not a prerequisite to being trans. "Transvestite" is a somewhat dated term that is considered offensive in some circles, though either way, a transvestite would by definition be "trans".

[Avshalom]

I wonder if that's an easily disproven talking point...

https://bsky.app/profile/hughryan.bsky.social/post/3li5yltc3...

[emilamlom]

Wording has changed throughout history as has our understanding of gender and sexuality. While the specific word "transgender" may not have existed, it's still true that she lived as a woman at the time. At the very least, you can't argue that there's gender-nonconformity going on there. The fact that the Stonewall monument was targeted for removing references of "trans" should hint at why the author of the extension named it this way.

[PaulHoule]

[flagged]

[delecti]

Allowing people to draw a line in the sand for an acceptable level of deviation from the normal leaves you open to them nudging that line just a bit further to ostracize more and more of the vulnerable. I've never been the biggest fan of the progress flag, but because I think the basic rainbow already includes all of those groups. I've never loved it more than I do now that I've heard the idea that people prefer the rainbow flag because it actively excludes the people the progress flag was created to actively highlight.

[emilamlom]

Alright, sure, some of the flag designs are not well done, but I doubt you're talking about vexillology.

Queer just refers to "not straight". It's a general term. Bisexual people have made up their minds, they like more than one gender. Asexual people face stigma just the same as gay and lesbian people do. They're all just different sexualities that differ from the norm, so why not include them together? It really doesn't erase any individual community in my experience.

As far as intersex and trans people are concerned, maybe you just haven't thought it out that much. Of course intersex people would feel differently about surgeries performed on them than trans people would. The former had a surgery forced on them without consent. The latter choses (or not) to have something done. Incels very clearly have nothing to do with "cis-het" discourse.

Even if I was to disregard all of that, trans people still belong in the community for the simple reason that they're a large part of how the modern queer community has formed. They've faced the same stigmas as lesbian and gay folks. Even within lesbian and gay communities, there's been quite a lot of gender-nonconformity (look into lesbian movements in the 70's for example).

Trans people exist and have for much longer than you probably realize. Maybe you need to go back to your roots and actually talk to some trans people. You might realize that the popular caricature isn't as accurate as you seem to think.

[UncleMeat]

I'll happily vote you down because political power is formed by collaboration. Excluding trans people from the liberation movement makes the gay community weaker against attacks, not stronger.