As federal agencies scramble to abide by the Trump administration’s reign of terror and complete disregard for the welfare of anyone in this nation who isn’t white and rich, more than 8,000 web pages with vital information across a dozen government websites have been removed from the internet. These deletions are far-reaching, targeting diversity initiatives and pretty much anything pertaining to gender equality.
Resources and scientific research using the term “pregnant people” have been eliminated as part of Trump’s attempts to delegitimize and erase trans identity. As a result, deleted web pages include — but are not limited to — more than 3,000 pages from the CDC’s website, including vital information and research on chronic diseases, STDs, drug overdoses, and vaccines; more than 180 pages from the Department of Justice, particularly pages regarding all state-level hate crime data and anti-LGBTQ hate crime data; more than 100 pages from the FDA that include guidelines for increasing diversity in clinical trials, which is extremely important to public health; and hundreds more pages that contained information for everything from LGBTQ veteran care, to the monkeypox virus, to women with opioid addictions, to workplace harassment policies, and beyond.
The New York Times has the most comprehensive breakdown of what has been taken down, which sites have resurfaced with significant changes, and which remain dark. But The New York Times has also been part of the problem when it comes to platforming transphobes, the problem at the core of these removals. Because the “reasoning” for a lot of the removal of necessary healthcare information is because of Trump’s executive order on what his camp calls “gender ideology” and what I like to call “letting trans people have rights.”
As such, multiple health agencies have taken down pages or even entire databases with information and data about contraceptives, HIV care, and abortion. The removal of HIV resources and information from government websites prompted Drag Race star Lexi Love to disclose her HIV status. “I am personally affected by this stance and will work to use this new platform to not only find resources for myself but those who I am connected to socially and here!” she said on Instagram. Abortion advocates like Jessica Valenti are working to rebuild, preserve, and archive much of the reproductive justice data being scrubbed from the CDC’s website. Documents are being hosted at CDCGuidelines.com, where you can learn more about and support the efforts.
In a joint statement, HIV Medicine Association President Colleen Kelley and Infectious Diseases Society of America President Tina Tan wrote: “The removal of HIV- and LGBTQ-related resources from the websites of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other health agencies is deeply concerning and creates a dangerous gap in scientific information and data to monitor and respond to disease outbreaks.”
Any pages that make reference to transgender individuals are being targeted by these removals, as are any pages that reference “inclusion.” This will have a devastating impact on trans people, HIV-positive people, women, cis gay people, disabled people, SO MANY FUCKING PEOPLE.
I know pointing out the hypocrisy of hateful groups often doesn’t change their positions, and I know TERFs are rarely moved by our impassioned pleas to shut the fuck up, but all of this reiterates to me that the transphobic members of the LGBTQ community and the supposedly liberal people who have succumbed to and perpetuated anti-trans rhetoric have contributed to the fact that women and all queer people are not safe under this administration.
By throwing trans people under the bus, they’ve ensured we’re all getting run over. Abandoning and demonizing trans people has made it so the worst enemies to women and queer people feel emboldened in their abilities to strip everyone who isn’t a cis man of their rights and bodily autonomy. The religious right has been successful in its cross-party anti-trans contamination, using trans people as a starting point to push an agenda built on white supremacist, anti-woman, anti-gay, patriarchal Christian values. All the hand-wringing about kids who just want to play sports and who gets to use which bathrooms leads to this, this massive erasure of resources, data, and information vital for public health.
If research agencies are no longer LGBTQ-inclusive and do not prioritize other forms of diversity like race and gender in important scientific processes like clinical trials, public health will collapse. Achieving basic gender equality and including more women in clinical trials is a very recent win, let alone making sure research is more inclusive of trans people, and now we’re watching it all swiftly and significantly rolled back by the party that prides itself on individual freedom (you know, as long as you’re a very particular kind of individual).
History has shown us over and over again that assimilation and self(ish)-preservation will not save us; community care and coalition building will. There is no safety for anyone under the LGBTQ+ umbrella if a single letter is threatened. Obviously, there will be major pushback on these erasures and changes to government resources and information, but it will likely be a long and hard fight. Trump’s team has been preparing to push through enforcement of Executive Orders despite dubious legality for four years now.
Our communities are sad and scared but also resilient. Archival efforts will continue. We’ll share resources, we’ll do what we can for each other — which is a lot! But widespread, systemic change and productive public health policy will require coalition-building and solidarity, and soon. They’re working fast to take things away, so we have to work fast, too.
The website for the Office for Research on Women’s Health has been gutted as well, which is not getting any coverage that I can see. This is particularly depressing given the Biden admin’s report on disparities faced by women (which is defined fairly broadly in the report, but many of us were disappointed to not see sexual identity or gender addressed directly) which gave me hope that there would be a increase in funding for women’s health research.
Also, I post this with major trigger warnings, but this seems to be creating a roadmap for their destruction of LGBTQ+ research (with an almost 100% focus on research among trans people) at the NIH: https://manhattan.institute/article/reform-proposals-for-the-national-institutes-of-health-nih
“push an agenda built on push an agenda built on white supremacist, anti-woman, anti-gay, patriarchal Christian values. Christian values.”
I don’t suppose I can get AS to change their terminology to use the term *Christianist* when speaking of the alleged Christians who are “white supremacist, anti-woman, anti-gay, patriarchal”?
I’m of a church (one of several denominations) that are practice complete LGBTQ equality. We follow Jesus of the New Testament who not only didn’t condemn same-sex-loving people, but cured a Roman centurion’s servant (whom his contemporary audience would have presumed was in a same-sex sexual relationship). Jesus-followers of today are frequently like Washingon DC Episcopal Bishop Mariann Budde, who explicitly, to his face, called Trump to show mercy on trans children.
Jesus-followers and Christianists: we are NOT the same!
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Hello all,
Canadian queer friend here just to tell you that while, yes, some of the very important informations needed by the queer and allies community is being withold and erased in the US… They are not in Canada, feel free to search canadian sites about queer health and realities and you will find the info you need on at least some topics. also: you are all welcomed here if need be! stay safe