"Remembering Queer and Trans of Color Resistance at Stonewall National Monument" — This project contends with the National Park Service’s investment in constructing a liberal, multicultural American national identity through the 2016 designation of Stonewall National Monument. Already on the National Register of Historic Places and a National Historic Landmark, the designation of the Stonewall Inn and neighboring Christopher Park as a national monument—a status meant to preserve “nationally significant resources”—demands critical inquiry into the stated and covert objectives of the incorporation in terms of American national identity and the nation-building project. Considering the collective history and legacy of the Stonewall riots, CSWS research fellows Moe Gámez and Madison Fowler ask what it mean for this site of resistance against the police to now be managed by the U.S. federal government and staffed during opening hours by park rangers. Grounded in abolitionism and queer of color critique, they consider what this commemoration does and who it benefits. They also consider recent changes at Stonewall under the Trump Administration. 

Moe Gámez (they/them/elle) is a PhD student (soon to be candidate) in English at the University of Oregon. Their research centers works created by and about queer and trans Latine/x people that engage environmentalism(s) or conceive of ecology at different scales and focalizations.

Madison Fowler (she/they) is a PhD candidate in Environmental Science, Studies, and Policy at the University of Oregon; her focal department is English. Madison’s research examines the contested futurities at work in U.S. public lands, with attention to both long-held Indigenous relationships with these places and American imperialism. 

12–1 p.m. Wednesday, Mar. 12  |  330 Hendricks Hall |  1408 University Street, Eugene