Employees at Multiple Federal Agencies Ordered to Remove Pronouns from Email Signatures
Employees at several federal agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Department of Transportation, and the Department of Energy, were ordered to remove pronouns from their email signatures by Friday afternoon. The directive is a result of two executive orders signed by President Donald Trump on his first day in office, which aim to curb diversity and equity programs in the federal government.
According to internal memos obtained by ABC News, employees were instructed to remove pronouns from all communication, including email signatures, government grant applications, and publications. The memos cited the executive orders, which call for the removal of “DEI language” from federal discourse, communications, and publications.
The order has been met with irritation from at least one career civil servant, who stated that they had never been told what they could and could not put in their email signature during their decade-plus years at the CDC.
A memo issued by the Office of Personnel Management also directed agencies to review their email systems and turn off features that prompt users for their pronouns.
It is unclear whether employees in other federal agencies received similar messages. Spokespeople for the Transportation Department, Energy Department, HHS, and CDC did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News.