GLAAD Condemns Erasure of Critical Information for LGBTQ Americans
GLAAD, the nation’s largest LGBTQ media advocacy organization, announced Tuesday that the Trump administration has removed nearly all LGBTQ and HIV-related content from the White House website and key federal agency pages.
Searches for terms such as “lesbian,” “gay,” “bisexual,” “transgender,” “sexual orientation,” and “gender identity” on WhiteHouse.gov now yield no results, according to GLAAD. Additionally, specific pages focusing on LGBTQ rights and HIV prevention have been eliminated from websites belonging to agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Department of State.
GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis condemned the move, stating, “President Trump claims to support freedom of speech, yet he is actively censoring information that acknowledges LGBTQ Americans and the issues we face. This blatant erasure is a clear attempt to make it harder for our community to access resources or see ourselves represented under his administration. However, the LGBTQ community is more visible than ever, and this effort to diminish us will fail.”
Content removed includes the White House’s equity report, information on expanding access to HIV prevention and treatment, and a fact sheet about LGBTQ Pride Month. The Department of State’s page on LGBTQ rights and the Department of Labor’s LGBTQ workers page have also been taken down, according to GLAAD.
GLAAD had anticipated such actions and previously archived mentions of LGBTQ and HIV-related terms on federal websites to track any deletions during Trump’s second term. The organization had similarly monitored such removals during Trump’s first term.
