US federal agencies removed references to gender and diversity from websites on Friday, complying with a directive from the office of personnel management (OPM) linked to President Donald Trump’s executive orders.
Instead, many of the sites showed “page not found”, while some displayed the message “access denied”.
The OPM memo sent on Wednesday ordered agencies to eliminate “gender ideology” from online content, contracts, and communications by 5 pm Friday.
Budget 2025 Updates
It also required the removal of terms like “gender” from government forms and the termination of grants and programs related to the issue.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) took down multiple health pages, including guidance on contraception, a fact sheet about HIV and transgender people, and surveys showing higher rates of depression and bullying among transgender students.
The Infectious Diseases Society of America criticized the move, stating that access to such health information is “critical to efforts to end the HIV epidemic.”
The Bureau of Prisons retitled its “Inmate Gender” webpage to “Inmate Sex,” removing data on transgender inmates.
The State Department removed the “X” gender marker option from passport applications, though the online application form was temporarily unavailable, citing maintenance. Additionally, all State Department employees were ordered to strip gender pronouns from email signatures, as per AP.
USA Today reported that the Census Bureau’s entire website went offline for an hour on Friday evening, with some pages remaining inaccessible.
The National Park Service removed its page on the Stonewall National Monument, a landmark in LGBTQ history, while the Department of Education erased its LGBTQ student resource page. Environmental Protection Agency pages on climate change and environmental justice also vanished from the main navigation bar.
Asked about the website removals, Trump responded, “I don’t know. That doesn’t sound like a bad idea to me,” reiterating his commitment to eliminating diversity and inclusion initiatives.
The directive follows Trump’s executive order defining sex strictly as male or female on official documents and policies.
US defense secretary Pete Hegseth also instructed the military to halt recognition of identity-based events, stating they “erode camaraderie and threaten mission execution,” AP reported.
Faith Williams, policy director at the project on government oversight, called the removals “a major blow to government transparency,” as per USA Today. She added that while website updates are common under new administrations, the scope of these removals is unprecedented.
