Federal authorities web sites scrubbed pages with transgender references Friday in an effort to adjust to President Trump’s Day One govt order on intercourse and gender.
The elimination of the content material comes after the US Workplace of Personnel Administration directed federal companies earlier this week to “take down all outward facing media (websites, social media accounts, etc.) that inculcate or promote gender ideology” by 5 p.m. Friday in an effort to adjust to Trump’s govt motion.
The State Division, for instance, modified a webpage that earlier this week contained data for “LGBTQI+ Travelers.”
All references to “LGBTQI+” had been modified to “LGB.”
Except for shortening the acronym, the content material on the web page seems to be the identical, together with a warning noting that many international locations “do not have IT systems at ports of entry that can accept sex markers other than female and male.”
The Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention took down a number of pages associated to transgender well being as nicely.
CDC webpages with data on “Health Disparities Among LGBTQ Youth,” “Supporting LGBTQ+ Youth,” “Diabetes and the LGBTQ Community” and “Facts About LGBT Youth Suicide” had been all eliminated.
A Division of Well being and Human Companies web page housing “LGBTQI+ Resources” was additionally taken down. Nonetheless, a Biden administration-era “Know Your Rights Guide” for “LGBTQI+ Older Adults” was nonetheless dwell as of Friday night.
The web site for the Nationwide Institutes of Well being’s Workplace for Sexual & Gender Minority Analysis Workplace vanished too.
A number of authorities webpages that appeared unrelated to gender ideology additionally went darkish
The CDC’s AtlasPlus instrument, which permits customers to entry information associated to HIV, viral hepatitis and different sexually transmitted illnesses, went offline Friday, together with the CDC’s Social Vulnerability Index, which is used to evaluate “the degree of social vulnerability in communities at risk of environmental catastrophes.”
A CDC web page with details about HIV testing was additionally clean, as was all the US Census Bureau’s web site.
The CDC and the Census Bureau didn’t reply to The Submit’s request for remark.
“OPM sent guidance to agencies to remove gender ideology-related content from their websites by 5 pm today as part of the efforts to defend women and uphold the truth of biological sex against the radical claims of gender activists,” OPM communications director McLaurine Pinover mentioned in an announcement.
“This may have been misinterpreted to mean we would shut down government websites who weren’t able to comply but that is not the plan for continuing to implement this important effort,” she added, referring to a false report that each one authorities web sites would go darkish Friday.
Trump’s Jan. 20 govt order on gender ideology demanded that federal companies take away “all statements, policies, regulations, forms, communications, or other internal and external messages that promote or otherwise inculcate gender ideology, and shall cease issuing such statements, policies, regulations, forms, communications or other messages.”
“Agency forms that require an individual’s sex shall list male or female, and shall not request gender identity,” it continued. “Agencies shall take all necessary steps, as permitted by law, to end the Federal funding of gender ideology.”
The 78-year-old president signed the same order banning federal funding for variety, fairness and inclusion applications which has additionally resulted in references to DEI being scrubbed from authorities web sites.
When requested about stories that authorities web sites would go darkish Friday to conform together with his govt orders Trump responded: “That doesn’t sound like a bad idea to me.”
“DEI would have ruined our country. And now it’s dead. I think DEI is dead, so if they want to scrub the website, that’s OK with me,” he added.
