Trump is removing government resources from HIV and firing various government personnel

Just days into Trump’s second presidency, his administration has removed nearly all LGBTQIA+ and HIV-related content and resources from government websites and placed all federal employees working in diversity offices on administrative leave.

The queer media advocacy organization GLAAD has confirmed that LGBTQIA+-oriented content and HIV-related resources were removed from key federal agency websites, including the White House, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the State Department, and the Department of Labor.

The pages were cataloged by GLAAD before Trump’s inauguration in anticipation that the Republican would remove, archive or otherwise alter the content.

“President Trump claims to be a strong supporter of free speech, but he is clearly committed to censoring any information that includes or relates to LGBT Americans and the issues we face,” said GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis.

“Today’s action demonstrates the Trump administration’s goal of making it as difficult as possible for LGBTQ Americans to seek federal resources or otherwise see themselves represented under his presidency.”

Trump made a similar move when he first took office in 2017, when then-President of the Human Rights Campaign Chad Griffin accused the administration of “systematically removing LGBTQ progress from official websites.”

Mass layoff of diversity workers, offices closed

Agency heads received a memo Tuesday from the acting director of the Office of Personnel Management ordering them to close their Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility (DEIA) offices and place DEIA contract employees on administrative leave, effective immediately.

The executive order behind the moves, titled Ending Radical and Wasteful DEI Government Programs and Benefits, was signed by President Trump on his first day back in office, and provides for the elimination of DEIA offices, positions, plans, actions, programs, or initiatives within 60 days.

The Biden administration launched such initiatives in the federal workforce in 2021 in an effort to attract marginalized people to the workplace, including groups such as pregnant women and veterans.

A memo sent to agency heads said the programs “segregate Americans by race, waste taxpayer dollars and lead to blatant discrimination.”

Federal agencies now have until Jan. 31 to submit plans for mass layoffs of DEIA employees. They are also required to investigate whether contracts or job descriptions were changed to hide ties to DEIA after Trump won the Nov. 5 election.

“We are aware of attempts by some in the government to disguise these programs by using coded or imprecise language,” the memo said.

The cuts come under the new Department of Government Efficiency, led by billionaire and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, which said Last January, DEI was “another word for racism”.

Human rights and advocacy groups are likely to challenge the cuts.