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Employees across several key U.S. government agencies, including the State Department, Department of Defense, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, have been ordered to remove gender-identifying pronouns from their email signatures.

The directive aligns with President Donald Trump’s recently signed executive order, “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth.” Signed within hours of Trump taking office, the order states that it is now U.S. government policy to officially recognise only two sexes: male and female.

An internal email from the State Department’s acting head of management, obtained by CNN, indicated that the department is currently reviewing all programs, contracts, and grants that incorporate “gender ideology” and is removing any outward-facing media promoting such concepts.

Additionally, the Department of Health and Human Services has reportedly been instructed to identify all employment contracts that include gender-neutral terms like “he/she/they/them,” “inclusivity,” or references to “nonbinary” by Friday so they can be terminated.

The removal of pronouns is the latest in a broader effort by Trump’s administration to dismantle diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies across federal agencies. Earlier this week, Trump controversially suggested that DEI hiring practices may have contributed to the fatal mid-air collision between a commercial flight and a Black Hawk military helicopter, which killed 67 people.

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During a press briefing, Trump read from an alleged Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) diversity initiative that sought to hire individuals with “severe intellectual and psychiatric disabilities.” When asked how he concluded that diversity efforts played a role in the crash, Trump responded: “Because I have common sense, OK? Unfortunately, a lot of people don’t.”

No official cause of the crash has been determined, and the FAA was without a permanent administrator at the time of the incident. Former FAA chief Mike Whitaker stepped down on January 20, the day Trump took office.

As Trump’s administration continues to roll back gender-inclusive policies, critics argue that these moves erase protections for LGBTQ+ individuals and reinforce exclusionary policies across federal agencies.

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