Health data, entire pages wiped from federal websites as Trump officials target ’gender ideology’

Federal agencies scramble to comply with directive to erase transgender protections, remove gender references from websites and documents.

Public health data disappeared from websites, entire webpages went blank and employees erased pronouns from email signatures Friday (January 31, 2025) as federal agencies scrambled to comply with a directive tied to President Donald Trump’s order rolling back protections for transgender people.

The Office of Personnel Management directed agency heads to strip “gender ideology” from websites, contracts and emails in a memo sent Wednesday (February 1, 2025), with changes ordered to be instituted by 5 p.m. Friday (January 31, 2025). It also directed agencies to disband employee resource groups, terminate grants and contracts related to the issue, and replace the term “gender” with “sex” on government forms.

Some parts of government websites appeared with the message: “The page you’re looking for was not found.” Some pages disappeared and came back intermittently.

Asked by reporters Friday (January 31, 2025) about reports that government websites were being shut down to eliminate mentions of diversity, equity and inclusion, Mr. Trump said he didn’t know anything about it but that he’d endorse such a move.

“I don’t know. That doesn’t sound like a bad idea to me,” Mr. Trump said, adding that he campaigned promising to stamp out such initiatives.

Much public health information was taken down from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website: contraception guidance; a fact sheet about HIV and transgender people; lessons on building supportive school environments for transgender and nonbinary kids; details about National Transgender HIV Testing Day; a set of government surveys showing transgender students suffering higher rates of depression, drug use, bullying and other problems.

Eliminating health resources creates dangerous gaps in scientific information, disease experts said. The Infectious Diseases Society of America, a medical association, issued a statement decrying the removal of information about HIV and people who are transgender. Access is “critical to efforts to end the HIV epidemic,” the organisation’s leaders said.