{"id":138745,"date":"2026-02-19T14:14:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T14:14:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/138745\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T14:14:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T14:14:15","slug":"park-rangers-sue-over-history-changes-at-parks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/138745\/","title":{"rendered":"Park rangers sue over history changes at parks"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Pride flag removed from the Stonewall National Monument<\/a>. Exhibition panels about slavery taken down at a national park site in Philadelphia.<\/a><\/p>\n

The changes, ordered under a directive from President Donald Trump to \u201crestore truth and sanity to American history,\u201d have prompted a legal challenge from a group representing current and former National Park Service employees, who say the administration is erasing history.<\/p>\n

The Association of National Park Rangers, joined by other groups, has filed suit alleging the administration is removing or altering materials related to what it calls \u201chistory and science\u201d across national park sites.<\/p>\n

What You Need To Know<\/p>\n

The Trump administration ordered changes at national park sites under a directive to \u201crestore truth and sanity to American history\u201d
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The Pride flag was removed from Stonewall National Monument and slavery exhibit panels were taken down in Philadelphia
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The Association of National Park Rangers and other groups have filed a lawsuit alleging history and science are being erased
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President Trump said the order is intended to ensure national sites do not inappropriately disparage Americans past or living<\/p>\n

Bill Wade, the association\u2019s executive director and a retired second-generation National Park Service employee, said rangers have long seen their role as preserving the full story of the nation, even when it is painful.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat does include telling the stories even when maybe they are about something that today we\u2019re not very proud of,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But Wade said recent actions by the administration have been \u201cdeeply emotional\u201d and \u201cgut wrenching.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been very disturbing to me and most of the people that I know,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit follows an executive order issued last spring titled \u201cRestore Truth and Sanity in American History<\/a>.\u201d In announcing the effort, Trump said, \u201cWe will teach our children to love our country, to honor our history.\u201d<\/p>\n

The order directs federal agencies to ensure national sites do not \u201cinappropriately disparage Americans past or living.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since then, Wade said dozens of sites have been affected by what he describes as censorship.<\/p>\n

In Philadelphia, panels from an exhibit about slavery were removed. In New York City, the Pride flag was taken down from Stonewall National Monument in Greenwich Village, widely considered the birthplace of the modern gay rights movement.<\/p>\n

The flag\u2019s removal<\/a> has also prompted a separate lawsuit.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey knew right where to go. Right to the heart of what we consider sacred as a gay community. They came right for us,\u201d one activist said at a rally this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey stole the flag in an attempt to steal our pride. In an attempt to steal our history. We are not going to stand for that,\u201d another said.<\/p>\n

Wade said the Association of National Park Rangers has historically viewed itself as an educational organization, not an advocacy group. Founded in 1977, he said the association has only been involved in one other lawsuit to his knowledge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Pride flag removed from the Stonewall National Monument. Exhibition panels about slavery taken down at a national…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":138746,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[25,9,24,55,54,12,56,45797,27,200,58726],"class_list":{"0":"post-138745","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-app-top-stories","9":"tag-new-york","10":"tag-new-york-city","11":"tag-new-york-city-headlines","12":"tag-new-york-city-news","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-ny","15":"tag-shannon-ryan","16":"tag-top-stories","17":"tag-vod","18":"tag-washington-d-c-bureau"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138745"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138745\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}