Trump Is Purging Federal Websites of LGBTQ+ Content. Here’s What’s Been Affected So Far

This article was originally published by Them.

In what feels like an even grimmer replay of President Donald Trump’s first term in office, the administration has moved to erase countless references to LGBTQ+ people from federal websites. At least 8,000 webpages have been impacted in total, according to an estimate from the New York Times.

The move corresponds with a recent day-one executive order from Trump defining gender as binary and assigned at birth, which led the Office of Personnel Management to order that all federal agencies update their websites to abide by the directive. Among those altered or removed include a data set on the Bureau of Prisons site that had previously been titled “Inmate Gender,” which is now labeled as “Inmate Sex.” The webpage for the Sexual and Gender Minority Research Office within the National Institutes of Health has now disappeared entirely; other resources, such as a National Park Service page dedicated to the Stonewall National Memorial, temporarily vanished, only to later reemerge. This phenomenon is likely to continue as additional EOs are signed and various departments and agencies comply with their directives.

Although the LGBTQ+ website purge dates back to Trump’s first administration, advocates worry about the combined impact of these actions in conjunction with Trump’s other EOs. In fewer than three weeks since taking office, the Trump administration has issued federal directives targeting trans people in prison, trans servicemembers, trans youth patients seeking care, and trans athletes. The removal of critical information could make it even more difficult for LGBTQ+ people to report discrimination, find affirming health care providers, seek safe spaces, engage in safe sex practices, or access data about unique health risks facing LGBTQ+ people. Chillingly, these efforts undoubtedly signal future attacks to come.

Ash Lazarus Orr, spokesperson at Advocates for Trans Equality, told Them over email that, taken in aggregate, the White House’s actions are “an attempt by hateful extremists to push us out of public life.”

“From our workplaces, schools, and healthcare to public facilities, sports, and the rights of incarcerated people, the Trump administration is determined to erase trans, nonbinary, and intersex people and make daily life even harder for those simply trying to exist,” Orr told Them. “Trans people have every reason to be angry and anxious, but we are still here. We are not backing down.”

Orr is not alone. LGBTQ+ advocates have signaled their commitment to fighting back. “You can try to change laws and policies all you want. You can try to scrub all the websites you have. But you cannot erase us,” said Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson in a statement shared with Them. “LGBTQ+ folks have always been here, and we are not going anywhere.”

Here’s a non-exhaustive guide to the innumerable mentions of LGBTQ+ people the Trump administration has already removed following the president’s inauguration.

Click here to jump to a section: CDC, Census Bureau, Department of Education, Department of Health and Human Services, State Department, Stop Bullying, USAID, White House

The Trump administration has reportedly worked diligently to gut the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) website as the president kicks off his second term. “CDC’s website is being modified to comply with President Trump’s Executive Orders,” reads a message currently placed at the top of its homepage.

The White House’s attempt to cut references to the LGBTQ+ community has impacted numerous pages on the CDC site, leading to the apparent removal of the National Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), a guide on supporting LGBTQ+ young people, a dataset on LGBTQ+ youth health disparities, and guidance on mpox vaccinations. Other resources impacted included a fact sheet on LGBTQ+ youth suicide, a guide on creating safe spaces for LGBTQ+ students, guidelines for caring for LGBTQ+ patients, and research on diabetes in the LGBTQ+ community (this one was not archived through the Wayback Machine). The CDC’s Social Vulnerability Index, which surveys the likelihood that marginalized groups will be impacted by natural disasters, was taken down entirely.

Likewise impacted by the Trump administration’s purge of LGBTQ+ resources were dedicated CDC webpages for people living with HIV, and last week, the main page for HIV resources was reported to be temporarily offline. A customizable tool for individuals to determine their individual risk of contracting the virus is now gone, as is information on National Transgender HIV Testing Day and a toolkit on preventing HIV among trans and nonbinary people.

The Trump administration has reportedly ordered that the CDC rescind all as-yet-unpublished manuscripts that employ certain phrases relating to the LGBTQ+ community, such as “gender,” “transgender,” “transsexual,” “non-binary,” and “pregnant person.”

According to the Associated Press, the entire Census Bureau site temporarily went offline last week, as government employees appeared to strip the webpage of LGBTQ+ language. While many of those pages are still searchable through the Census.gov search portal, clicking on the links returns a 404. Examples include reports on the disproportionate impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on LGBTQ+ Americans, elevated rates of depression and anxiety in the LGBTQ+ community, and the demographic makeup of same-sex households with children. Also inaccessible are news bulletins related to the Census Bureau’s work on LGBTQ+ data collection.

The removal of LGBTQ+ pages from the Census Bureau website strongly suggests that the Trump administration will move to roll back the inclusion of LGBTQ+ people in the 2030 census. During Trump’s prior term, the White House reportedly nixed efforts to poll Americans as to their sexual orientation and gender identity in the 2020 survey. The Trump administration also reportedly discontinued data collection on LGBTQ+ older adults and LGBTQ+ people with disabilities.

Virtually all references to LGBTQ+ people have been scrubbed from the Education Department webpage. Missing pages include 2024 roundtable timed to the Transgender Day of Visibility and resources for LGBTQ+ youth experiencing homelessness. Still online, though, is a 2017 memo stating the Trump administration’s intention to rescind Obama-era guidance advising schools to treat trans youth in accordance with their gender identity.

While many of the research papers housed in the federal government’s Institute of Education Sciences database still remain accessible, it remains to be seen how long those pages will stay active. Within the coming days, Trump is expected to issue an order beginning the process of shuttering the Department of Education (DOE), following through on a years-old promise. Since his first term, the president has fantasized about dissolving the DOE and turning education “back to the states,” as he stated in an October 2023 campaign video. Trump has said that he hopes his Education Secretary pick, Linda McMahon, puts herself out of a job. (McMahon, the wife of WWE owner Vince McMahon, has yet to be confirmed.)

Trump will not be able to close the DOE without the approval of Congress, and it remains to be seen whether he has the votes to make that happen. Republicans have a slim three-seat majority in the House of Representatives, meaning that just a handful of conservative defectors could block the move. Dissolving the agency faces an even greater hurdle in the Senate: Although the GOP controls 53 seats, supporters will need 60 votes to avoid a Democratic filibuster.

Since January 20, the entire webpage for the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has frequently been offline while the agency worked to comply with Trump’s order. What remains as of this writing is a drastically pared down version of the page prior to the president resuming office. Now deleted is a guide to Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, which bars discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in federally funded health centers. During Trump’s first administration, the White House worked to gut Section 1557 of protections for LGBTQ+ patients, and he has again rescinded the Obama-era nondiscrimination rules since resuming the presidency last month. A dedicated page on HHS enforcement of civil rights laws, including for LGBTQ+ people, is also gone.

In addition to gutting the OCR page, the Trump administration also removed numerous reports from HHS on advancing the health and well-being of LGBTQ+ people. Looking specifically at the Administration for Children and Families within HHS, the White House appears to have erased a 2015 memo on LGBTQ+ refugees and a resource page on emotionally supporting LGBTQ+ youth (the latter of which was not archived via the Wayback Machine). The Children’s Bureau Express no longer offers a guide for foster parents on caring for LGBTQ+ children and a fact sheet on trans youth medical care has been erased from the Office of Population Affairs page.

“All changes to the HHS website and HHS division websites are in accordance with President Trump’s January 20 Executive Orders,” said HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon in a statement cited by the BBC.

At least for now, some LGBTQ+ pages on the State Department website remain untouched. Those that remain active on the site include a 2022 toolkit with resources for LGBTQ+ Pride Month, a 2023 fact sheet on the global advancement of LGBTQ+ equality, and a 2024 quiz on the history of Pride Month, as well as individual reports on the state of human rights in countries including Burundi, Somalia, and Sri Lanka. But other pages are archived or have been removed altogether, such as the announcement of a 2023 visit to Geneva, Switzerland by Jessica Stern, the Biden administration’s LGBTQ+ special envoy, and 2024 remarks honoring Pride month made by former Secretary of State Antony Blinken, along with the State Department’s entire LGBT Rights page.

Many webpages that remain, though, have notably been excised of LGBTQ+ content or had specific references to trans, nonbinary, and intersex people removed. For instance, a page briefing “LGBTQI Travelers” on safety concerns while visiting potentially hostile countries currently references “LGB Travelers,” with the letters “TQI” absent. “LGB travelers can face special challenges abroad,” the site now advises. “Laws and attitudes in some countries may affect safety and ease of travel.” A page similarly offering “Resources for LGBTQI+ Prospective Adoptive Parents” now solely addresses “LGB Prospective Adoptive Parents.”

The Trump administration’s targeted erasure of trans Americans also extends to policy. In the wake of Trump’s anti-trans day-one order, the State Department reportedly removed the option on its website to select an “X” gender marker in passport applications and has since reportedly blocked new applications from those seeking to update their gender markers. All references to “gender” on the site have been replaced with the word “sex.”

StopBullying.gov is a clearinghouse operated by HHS with resources for bullying prevention, but the website has been scrubbed of almost all information geared toward queer and trans youth. Per the Wayback Machine, dedicated tags allowing visitors to search articles on the topics of “LGBT Youth” and “Transgender” were active on the website as of January 18. Both now return a “Page Not Found” result. Likewise scrubbed from the site are a 2014 report on LGBTQ+ youth in rural Vermont, a 2016 research study indicating that LGBTQ+ teens remain disproportionately targeted for bullying in schools, a 2016 tipsheet on making learning environments safe for LGBTQ+ students, and a 2016 blog post on preventing discrimination against trans youth. All were live just hours before Trump was inaugurated.

“The documents address common questions — like how to handle educational records of transgender students and how to address harassment of transgender students,” the latter webpage states. “They also highlight sensible ways that schools around the country have been able to address concerns from other students and parents without infringing upon transgender students’ civil rights.”

Still accessible, for now, is a PDF tipsheet on the impact of bullying on LGBTQ+ students and what school districts can do to prevent abuse from occurring.

As the Trump administration pushes to shutter the U.S. Agency for International Development, popularly known as USAID, its website is now offline. The agency’s homepage currently states that all “direct hire personnel will be placed on administrative leave globally, with the exception of designated personnel responsible for mission-critical functions, core leadership and specially designated programs.”

LGBTQ+ pages affected by the USAID shutdown include a statement of support for the LGBTQ+ community, a fact sheet on LGBTQ+ inclusive development policy, a podcast series on furthering LGBTQ+ inclusion in USAID programming, an initiative advancing LGBTQ+ rights in Asia, and a 23-page report outlining USAID’s vision on global LGBTQ+ equality.

The Trump administration has chided USAID’s efforts toward inclusion as a “waste” of federal resources. Elon Musk, the far-right billionaire tasked with heading Trump’s Department of Governmental Efficiency, has referred to USAID as a “criminal organization” and vowed its dissolution.

According to GLAAD, at least 54 pages related to the LGBTQ+ community have been scrubbed from the White House’s website following Trump’s inauguration. Among those cited by the national LGBTQ+ watchdog organization include a transcript of Biden’s remarks at the June 2024 grand opening of the Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center, a roundtable of LGBTQ+ leaders speaking on gun violence prevention, and a 2024 budget summary from the National Drug Control Policy referencing health initiatives focused on the LGBTQ+ community.

Also missing from the White House webpage, as Them previously reported, are statements honoring the deaths of Nex Benedict and Matthew Shepard. The new administration also erased Biden-era executive orders banning conversion therapy, opposing discrimination against trans students, and promoting LGBTQ+ inclusion in the workplace, along with declarations recognizing as Transgender Day of Visibility, National Coming Out Day, and, LGBTQ+ Pride Month. Under Trump, federal agencies have reportedly been banned from celebrating Pride Month.

At the time of writing, searching for the terms “LGBT” and “LGBTQ+” on WhiteHouse.org returns zero hits on the site.

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