How federal agencies have already changed their websites under Trump

The Washington Post

His administration has been particularly focused on removing any references to diversity, equity and inclusion from federal agencies’ websites.
It doesn’t sound like a bad idea to me.” Story continues below advertisement Advertisement Story continues below advertisement Trump added: “I think DEI is dead, so if they want to scrub the websites that’s okay with me.” And in many instances they already had.
Story continues below advertisement Advertisement Story continues below advertisement Gender By early 2022, federal agencies in the Biden administration included gender-inclusive terminology, like “pregnant people” and “birthing people” in agency health guidance but following Trump’s executive order targeting the rights of trans people, some agencies edited their language.
Story continues below advertisement Advertisement Story continues below advertisement Climate Finally, The Post also found in its analysis that some agencies were also starting to change how they talk about climate change, a policy area where Trump has sharply diverged from his predecessor.
And at least two pages are gone that informed visitors about how climate change is affecting the nation’s 193 million acres of federally managed forests and grasslands.

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Using sweeping executive orders, President Donald Trump has acted quickly to enact his policies throughout the federal government. Removing any mention of diversity, equity, and inclusion from federal agencies’ websites has been a top priority for his administration.

Trump said, “I don’t know,” when asked by a reporter in the Oval Office on Friday if he could guarantee that websites would be taken down in order to remove DEI content. I don’t think it’s a terrible idea. “”.

Trump went on: “I believe DEI is dead, so I don’t mind if they want to clean up the websites. And they already had in a lot of cases. Trump was tasked by the American people “to remove DEI from our federal government and reinstate a system based on merit,” according to an unsigned statement from the White House press office to The Washington Post. “”.

A Post analysis of over 8,000 federal websites that have undergone changes since the day of the inauguration revealed 662 instances of additions and deletions that represent Trump campaign policy shifts. We have removed “Diversity.”. The term “climate change” is now frequently replaced with “climate resilience.”. Additionally, “pregnant women” has taken the place of “pregnant people.”. “.”.

Fairness, inclusion, and diversity.

The most frequent change The Post discovered in its examination of websites across 14 cabinet-level agencies was the removal of DEI-related language. Organizations removed the phrase from everything from agency goals to codes of conduct.

Nearly every federal agency and department The Post examined eliminated references to “diversity,” “equity,” and “inclusion” from everything from old job postings to now-closed DEI-related offices to even obscure, years-old webpages. “”.

For example, a Department of Homeland Security job posting page no longer claims to be an “inclusive” workplace.

The terms “diversity,” “equity,” and “inclusion” vanished from websites devoted to that topic, such as the Department of Health and Human Services’ Equal Employment Opportunity and Anti-Harassment statement. Meanwhile, they were struck from a page outlining the objectives of the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization.

Old documents even stopped using these words. Someone at the Environmental Protection Agency deleted the “Diversity Commitment and Code of Conduct” from a webpage that detailed a 2021 conference. The Post also discovered a March 2022 letter from the secretaries of health and human services and education that had been altered to omit the words “children and youth of color, immigrant children, children with disabilities, and those who are LGBTQ+” from a list of kids who might face mental health issues related to the pandemic.

“🏛.”.

Observe politics.

Additionally, some changes went beyond topics unrelated to gender or race in the seeming attempt to eliminate any and all DEI-sounding terminology. For instance, a page outlining the scope of the Department of the Interior’s museum holdings was stripped of the word “diverse.”.

There were numerous examples of agencies altering their discourse on gender and gender identity, but the other kinds of policy changes The Post discovered were less extensive.

gender.

During the Biden administration, federal agencies used gender-inclusive language in agency health guidelines by early 2022, such as “pregnant people” and “birthing people.” However, some agencies changed their language after Trump’s executive order that targeted transgender rights.

For instance, the phrase “gender identity” was eliminated from a list of characteristics that the Department of Education states it will not use as the foundation for employment discrimination. Additionally, the Office of Civil Rights at Health and Human Services previously stated that it defends the rights of “women and pregnant people” to obtain reproductive health care, but it has since reduced that statement to simply “women.”. “.”.

That shift was also reflected in a number of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention pages. For example, two pages covering chicken pox.

Data analysis by “sex” rather than “gender” is now described on a number of CDC webpages. As of late Friday, pages pertaining to HIV testing and transgender medication, as well as information on promoting the health of LGBTQ+ youth, have also been taken down.

Additionally, all 6,200 words of the Department of Agriculture’s Gender Inclusive Communications Guidance were deleted. Staff members were advised to use gender-neutral language and encouraged to inquire about pronouns in the document.

weather.

Lastly, The Post’s analysis revealed that some agencies were beginning to shift their discourse on climate change, a policy area in which Trump has been very different from his predecessor.

The Office of Energy Justice and Equity webpage at the Department of Energy has been removed, along with all of its staff members who were put on administrative leave earlier this week as part of the purge by the Trump administration. The president’s pledge to lift the halt on liquefied natural gas exports is described on the page titled “Restoring Energy Dominance,” which is the new destination for visitors to the department’s Low Income Energy Affordability Data Tool website. Another program no longer stated that it would support the creation of initiatives for a clean or equitable energy future.

Additionally, a page that described an Environmental Protection Agency tool for analyzing air quality and greenhouse gas emissions was stripped of the term “climate change.”. Furthermore, Alys Campaigne, Climate Initiative Leader at the Southern Environmental Law Center, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, claims that several Department of Transportation references to “climate change” have been replaced with “climate resilience,” a more general term that describes disaster protections without looking into their underlying causes.

Even going so far as to eliminate objectives related to “achieving net-zero emissions and increasing equity,” one Department of Transportation agency did so. Instead, “enhance resilience, and make America more globally competitive” is now the new Advanced Research Projects Agency—Infrastructure goal. “”.

The goal of ARPA-I is to spur the creation of cutting-edge systems, capabilities, and technologies that could revolutionize the digital and physical infrastructure of the United States. Our goal is to create a future with safe, secure, resilient, and efficient transportation systems that also achieve net-zero emissions and improve access and equity for all. The creation of revolutionary transportation technologies that lower costs, improve safety, boost resilience, and increase American competitiveness abroad will be accelerated by ARPA-I.

At the Agriculture Department, a page about USDA’s Climate-Smart Commodities Partnerships has been removed. The website of the Forest Service has also been cleaned up. Also missing are at least two pages that explained to visitors how the country’s 193 million acres of federally managed forests and grasslands are being impacted by climate change.

The authors of this report were Katlyn Alo, Maxine Joselow, Anna Phillips, and Natalie Vineberg.

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