Federal workers will have to scrub pronouns from email signatures
WASHINGTON ‒ Federal employees at multiple departments were instructed Friday to remove personal pronouns from their email signatures by 5 p.m. as agencies rushed to carry out President Donald Trump's executive order not to promote gender ideology.
An email to U.S. Department of Agriculture staff, reviewed by Paste BN, instructed employees to "recreate their signatures" to comply with Trump's order and an updated style guide that excludes pronouns.
ABC News reported staffers at the Centers for Disease Control and the Transportation Department received directives to remove their pronouns. According to he New York Times, employees at the State Department, the Labor Department and the Department of Veteran Affairs also received the order.
A memo issued by the Office of Personnel Management on Wednesday also directed the heads of federal departments and agencies to remove all regulations, forms, communications, and webpages that “inculcate or promote gender ideology” by Friday evening.
The memo, obtained by Paste BN, directed departments and agencies to notify employees whose position involves "promoting gender ideology" to be placed on paid leave and to ensure that all agency policies and documents use the term “sex” rather than gender, among other initiatives.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has already started to revamp its website, scrubbing pages that contained information on health disparities among LGBTQ youth and supporting LBGTQ+ youth.
The State Department also stripped "LGBTQ" and replaced it with "LGB" - referring to lesbian, gay and bisexual - on its travel advisory webpage.
The memo comes as Trump has taken a flurry of actions rolling back transgender protections put in place by the former Biden administration.
Trump had signed executive orders directing the federal government not to assist with gender transitions for individuals under the age of 19 and banning transgender service members from the military.
(This article has been updated to include additional information.)