According to an internal memo, the US State Department has instructed staff members to strip their email signatures of gender pronouns by Friday evening. The directive-issued by acting Under-Secretary for Management Tibor P. Nagy-follows a broader effort to eradicate so-called “gender ideology” from government programs and communications.
In the email, Nagy assured that the department would review every agency program, contract, and grant related to gender ideology. “All employees are required to remove any gender-identifying pronouns from email signature blocks by 5pm today,” Nagy said. The department does not give an exact count of how many employees currently utilize gender pronouns in their email signatures, although the State Department has approximately 77,840 employees.
This edict comes on the heels of identical decisions made at other federal agencies, which included the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Department of Transportation, and the Department of Energy. The decision is said to be related to two executive orders signed by President Donald Trump on his first day back in office that sought to purge “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) language from government language.
The State Department order is not just about email signatures. It also includes directives to review and revise internal trainings, forms, and plans, with a particular focus on “outward facing media” related to gender issues. This move follows a separate instruction by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, which halted the use of the gender identity marker “X” for passports and official documents, again citing the executive orders as justification.
This reflects the shifting nature of federal policy concerning gender and identity issues, which has become a highly politicized point in the current landscape.
