On Friday, the U.S. State Department has revised its online resources for LGBTQI+ travelers, eliminating references to transgender and intersex individuals.
In alignment with President Donald Trump’s Day One executive order regarding sex and gender, the acronym referenced on the webpage—which was previously listed as “LGBTQI+”—has now been reduced to “LGB”.
This action was taken after the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) instructed federal agencies to “take down all outward facing media (websites, social media accounts, etc.) that inculcate or promote gender ideology” by Friday afternoon.
The State Department’s webpage does, however, retain warnings about international travel challenges, including the fact that some countries “do not have IT systems at ports of entry that can accept sex markers other than female and male.”
“OPM sent guidance to agencies to remove gender ideology-related content from their websites by 5 pm today as part of the efforts to defend women and uphold the truth of biological sex against the radical claims of gender activists,” OPM Communications Director McLaurine Pinover said in a statement obtained by the New York Post.
Addressing speculation that entire government websites might be shut down in response to the order, Pinover added, “This may have been misinterpreted to mean we would shut down government websites who weren’t able to comply but that is not the plan for continuing to implement this important effort.”
Trump’s executive order, issued promptly upon his taking office on January 20, mandated that all federal agencies eradicate “all statements, policies, regulations, forms, communications, or other internal and external messages that promote or otherwise inculcate gender ideology, and shall cease issuing such statements, policies, regulations, forms, communications or other messages.”
“Agency forms that require an individual’s sex shall list male or female, and shall not request gender identity,” it continues. “Agencies shall take all necessary steps, as permitted by law, to end the Federal funding of gender ideology.”
Trump also issued a similar decree withdrawing all federal funding for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, leading to the removal of DEI references from government websites.
When questioned about reports that websites are being taken offline in accordance with his executive order, Trump said, “That doesn’t sound like a bad idea to me,” adding,
“DEI would have ruined our country. And now it’s dead. I think DEI is dead, so if they want to scrub the website, that’s OK with me.”
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