Federal agencies have ordered employees to remove “preferred pronouns” from their email signatures by end of day on Friday, in keeping with President Donald Trump’s executive orders weeding out radical gender ideology and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives from the government.
Internal memos obtained by ABC News revealed that employees from multiple federal agencies were told to remove pronouns from email signatures. The memos cite two executive orders Trump signed on his first day in office taking down DEI programs in the federal government, according to the report.
“Pronouns and any other information not permitted in the policy must be removed from CDC/ATSDR employee signatures by 5.p.m. ET on Friday,” a message sent Friday morning from Jason Bonander, the CDC’s Chief Information Officer, reportedly reads. “Staff are being asked to alter signature blocks by 5.p.m. ET today (Friday, January 31, 2025) to follow the revised policy.”
🚨 JUST IN: Trump administration orders federal employees to remove pronouns from their email signatures by today at 5PM - ABC pic.twitter.com/hDFyfbkQBx
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) January 31, 2025
Federal employees with the Department of Transportation were similarly told on Thursday to scrap pronouns in email signatures, according to the report. Sources told the outlet that employees have been ordered to remove pronouns from everything, including email signatures, across the department.
“Employees at the Department of Energy who received a similar notice Thursday were told this was to meet requirements in Trump’s executive order calling for the removal of DEI ‘language in Federal discourse, communications and publications,'” the report continues.
ABC News said it is not “immediately clear” whether employees across other agencies have received similar orders, with several agencies not responding to request for comment by time of publication.
Trump signed an executive order called “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” which states:
Agencies shall remove 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. Agencies shall take all necessary steps, as permitted by law, to end the Federal funding of gender ideology.
The order further states that “it is the policy of the United States to recognize two sexes, male and female” and that “[t]hese sexes are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality.”
Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.
