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The administration has banned or discouraged the use of hundreds of terms, including "advocate," "LGBT," and "trans."
There are a lot of terms that Donald Trump’s administration really, really doesn’t like — hundreds of them.
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They include “activism,” “advocate” (not this publication but a generic use), “assigned female at birth,” “assigned male at birth,” “climate crisis,” “disabilities,” “diversity,” “equality,” “females,” “feminism,” “indigenous community,” “LGBT,” “LGBTQ,” “men who have sex with men,” “racial inequality,” “sexual preferences,” “sexuality,” “social justice,” “they/them,” “trans,” “transgender,” “transsexual,” “unconscious bias,” and “underprivileged,” according to an analysis by The New York Times.
The administration has barred or discouraged the use of these and numerous other terms in federal government documents, the Times found. There were more than 250 governmental web pages in which the terms had been deleted or changed since Trump took office in January, the paper reports, and there may be many more.
The terms appeared in memos, guidelines, and other documents viewed by the Times. “Some ordered the removal of these words from public-facing websites, or ordered the elimination of other materials (including school curricula) in which they might be included,” the paper notes. “In other cases, federal agency managers advised caution in the terms’ usage without instituting an outright ban.”
While all administrations have language preferences, the second Trump administration’s efforts are “remarkable,” according to the Times. Sometimes the changes in language are meant to eliminate an entire concept, such as diversity, equity, and inclusion. The administration claims this is going against merit in hiring, when in reality, it’s a way to make sure all meritorious employees and applicants are recognized and welcomed, including members of historically marginalized groups.
Among the examples given by the Times is one already protested by LGBTQ+ activists: The National Park Service’s web page for the Stonewall National Monument no longer says “LGBTQ+” but instead “LGB,” when actually, many trans people were involved in the 1969 uprising at the Stonewall Inn that jump-started the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement.
Also, references to racial injustice, social inequities, and people of color were removed from a 2021 memo about the impact of COVID-19 on Head Start programs, and language about the climate crisis and the Paris Agreement on addressing this crisis — which the U.S. has now pulled out of — from a page for the State Department’s Office of Global Change.
“The pattern of vanishing words established here suggests Mr. Trump and his administration may be more interested in chilling the national conversation — at least when it comes to their own disfavored topics — than in expanding it,” the Times concludes.
