Americans looking for information on various federal websites were out of luck Friday, Jan. 31. Many government web pages went dark, including some with public health data and the website for the U.S. Census Bureau.
It’s part of the response to a memo President Donald Trump signed Wednesday, Jan. 29, restricting government agencies from providing outward-facing media like websites and social media accounts that “promote gender ideology.”
The president has signed various memos and executive orders targeting diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility, often shortened to DEI or DEIA. Trump said the policies violate civil rights law.
In practice, it has restricted what government agencies, including public health agencies, can say or share.
Several documents related to LGBTQ+ people and non-white Americans came down. They include one from the Department of Health and Human Services that laid out LGBTQ+ rights in health care.
Trump’s memo focused on gender and diversity, but as agencies work to comply, seemingly unrelated information has also disappeared from public view.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has removed interactive websites tracking levels of HIV, hepatitis and sexually transmitted diseases, as well as one where people could look up their community’s risk level in case of a natural disaster.
Also coming down: the CDC monitoring program for health-related behaviors in high school-aged children. It has tracked their nutrition, physical activity levels, sexual behavior and tobacco and drug use for 35 years.
The survey’s most recent edition, however, had asked students if they identified as transgender. Three percent said they did, while another 2% were not sure.
There is no immediate timeline for returning the websites and information. However, the memo asks agencies to outline their plans to implement and fully comply with its guidance by noon Eastern time next Friday, Feb. 7.
Many documents are available through the nonprofit Internet Archive if users copy a website’s dead link and paste it into the search box at web.archive.org.
One other piece of information from government employees disappeared Friday. In line with an executive order signed on President Trump’s first day in office, all agency employees, including the CDC and Department of Transportation, had to remove their preferred pronouns from email signatures if they previously chose to include them.
