Trump administration removes transgender references from federal government websites

Federal government websites scrubbed pages with transgender references Friday in an effort to comply with President Trump’s Day One executive order on sex and gender.  The removal of the content comes after the US Office of Personnel Management directed federal agencies 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 order to comply with Trump’s executive action. The State Department, for example, modified a webpage that earlier this week contained information for “LGBTQI+ Travelers.” All references to “LGBTQI+” were changed to “LGB.”  Aside from shortening the acronym, the content on the page appears to be the same, including a warning noting that many countries “do not have IT systems at ports of entry that can accept sex markers other than female and male.” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention took down several pages related to transgender health as well. CDC webpages with information on “Health Disparities Among LGBTQ Youth,” “Supporting LGBTQ+ Youth,” “Diabetes and the LGBTQ Community” and “Facts About LGBT Youth Suicide” were all removed. A Department of Health and Human Services page housing “LGBTQI+ Resources” was also taken down.

However, a Biden administration-era “Know Your Rights Guide” for “LGBTQI+ Older Adults” was still live as of Friday evening. The website for the National Institutes of Health’s Office for Sexual & Gender Minority Research Office vanished too. Several government webpages that appeared unrelated to gender ideology also went dark The CDC’s AtlasPlus tool, which allows users to access data related to HIV, viral hepatitis and other sexually transmitted diseases, went offline Friday, along with the CDC’s Social Vulnerability Index, which is used to assess “the degree of social vulnerability in communities at risk of environmental catastrophes....