Conservation and historical organizations sued the Trump administration on Tuesday over National Park Service policies that the groups say erase history and science from America\u2019s national parks.\n<\/p>\n
A lawsuit filed in Boston says\u00a0orders by President Donald Trump<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Interior Secretary Doug Burgum<\/a>\u00a0have forced park service staff to remove or censor exhibits that share factually accurate and relevant U.S. history and scientific knowledge, including about slavery and climate change.\n<\/p>\n Separately, LGBTQ+ rights advocates and historic preservationists sued the park service Tuesday for\u00a0removing a rainbow Pride flag<\/a>\u00a0from the Stonewall National Monument, the New York site that commemorates a foundational moment in the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement.\n<\/p>\n The changes at exhibits came in response to a Trump\u00a0executive order<\/a>\u00a0\u201crestoring truth and sanity to American history\u201d at the nation\u2019s museums, parks and landmarks. It directed the Interior Department to ensure those sites do not display elements that \u201cinappropriately disparage Americans past or living.\u201d Burgum later directed removal of \u201cimproper partisan ideology\u201d from museums, monuments, landmarks and other public exhibits under federal control.\n <\/p>\n The groups behind the lawsuit said that a federal\u00a0campaign to review interpretive materials<\/a>\u00a0has escalated in recent weeks, leading to the removal of numerous exhibits that discuss the history of slavery and enslaved people, civil rights, treatment of Indigenous peoples, climate science, and other \u201ccore elements of the American experience.\u201d\n<\/p>\n The suit was filed by a coalition that includes the National Parks Conservation Association, American Association for State and Local History, Association of National Park Rangers and Union of Concerned Scientists. It comes as a federal judge on Monday ordered that an exhibit about\u00a0nine people enslaved by George Washington must be restored<\/a>\u00a0at his former home in Philadelphia.\n<\/p>\n