Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people have long been grouped together and referred to more broadly as LGBTQ or a similar abbreviation, like LGBTQI, which includes intersex people. Now, however — just two weeks after President Donald Trump signed multiple executive orders targeting trans people — the websites of several government agencies are lopping off the back half of the abbreviation or completely removing web pages that mention LGBTQ people.
A page on the State Department’s website that had, up until last week, provided information for “LGBTQI Travelers” now addresses only “LGB Travelers.” Similarly, a State Department web page providing “Resources for LGBTQI+ Prospective Adoptive Parents“ now just says “LGB Prospective Adoptive Parents.”
The website of the Social Security Administration, an independent federal agency, formerly had a page about “Social Security for LGBTQI+ People”; it has now been updated to “LGBQ People,” removing the mention of transgender people and those who are intersex, meaning those who are born with physical traits that don’t fit typical definitions for male or female categories.
More common, however, are examples of web pages mentioning LGBTQ people that have been completely removed. The removed content includes a web page about tobacco use among LGBTQ people on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website, information about an LGBTQ+ working group at the Justice Department, a page dedicated to the Commerce Department’s LGBTQ program and resources about avoiding sexual orientation discrimination on the website of the Labor Department.
The CDC also removed its Youth Risk Behavior Survey, which monitors health behaviors of students nationwide and included some of the only federal data on LGBTQ youth. The top of the web page for the survey results reads, “CDC’s website is being modified to comply with President Trump’s Executive Orders.”
Trump signed a variety of executive orders targeting transgender rights and “gender ideology,” including an executive order declaring that the United States will recognize only two sexes, male and female, and that they are assigned at birth and unchangeable. The order directs federal agencies to remove “all statements, policies, regulations, forms, communications, or other internal and external messages that promote or otherwise inculcate gender ideology,” which the order says “replaces the biological category of sex with an ever-shifting concept of self-assessed gender identity, permitting the false claim that males can identify as and thus become women and vice versa, and requiring all institutions of society to regard this false claim as true.” The order argues that “ideologues who deny the biological reality of sex” harm women “by depriving them of their dignity, safety, and well-being.”
When the White House was asked for comment on the changes to and the removal of web pages mentioning the LGBTQ community, a spokesperson for the Office of Personnel Management shared a memorandum directing all federal agencies last week to implement Trump’s “gender ideology” order. The memorandum directed agencies to “Take down all outward facing media (websites, social media accounts, etc.) that inculcate or promote gender ideology” by 5 p.m. Friday.
In a statement the day after Trump signed the order and shortly after LGBTQ-related information started to be removed from the White House website, the LGBTQ media advocacy group GLAAD accused Trump of censorship.
“President Trump claims to be a strong proponent of freedom of speech, yet he is clearly committed to censorship of any information containing or related to LGBTQ Americans and issues that we face,” CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said in a statement. “This action proves the Trump administration’s goal of making it as difficult as possible for LGBTQ Americans to find federal resources or otherwise see ourselves reflected under his presidency. Sadly for him, our community is more visible than ever; and this pathetic attempt to diminish and remove us will again prove unsuccessful.”
Trump has also signed executive orders barring trans people from enlisting and serving in the military and prohibiting federal funding from going toward transition-related care for minors or to schools that “promote gender ideology.”
