Federal Workers Ordered to Remove Gender Identity From Email Signatures

Federal workers have been instructed to remove any reference to their identifying pronouns from their email signatures and other forms, as agency and department leaders work to follow President Trump’s executive order to scrub all references to gender ideology in official government materials by 5 p.m. Friday.

“All employees are required to remove any gender identifying pronouns from email signature blocks,” instructions to State Department employees read, in an email they received Friday. Workers at agencies including the Labor Department and the Department of Veterans Affairs received similar directives.

The instructions to medical staff at some Veterans Affairs facilities also articulated how references to gender would have to be excised on forms: “The use of GENDER is not allowed on any form. We can only use SEX, and there should be only 2 options — MALE and FEMALE.”

At the Environmental Protection Agency, all-gender bathrooms were also closed, said Nicole Cantello, a former lawyer for the agency who represents its union in Chicago.

The directives come after the White House’s Office of Personnel Management distributed instructions on Wednesday to department and agency heads, ordering them to remove references to gender ideology from all official materials, including emails. They were also ordered to take down any websites or other public-facing materials that reference gender identity, and ensure that bathrooms in federal buildings were designated for biological males and females. The memo also instructed agency heads to place employees “whose position description involves inculcating or promoting gender ideology” on paid administrative leave.

In the Wednesday memo, the personnel office gave department heads until 5 p.m. Friday to carry out those orders, with instructions to report back to the office by noon on Feb. 7 to explain how they put the changes in place.

Mr. Trump had outlined a plan for such changes in an executive order issued the day of his inauguration.

Representatives for the E.P.A., the V.A., the Labor Department and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson from the State Department declined to comment.

The orders to remove references to gender identity are the latest phase of Mr. Trump’s effort to end the federal government’s diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Last week, the Trump administration put officials overseeing such efforts on administrative leave, and demanded that employees report on any attempts to skirt new rules designed to eliminate D.E.I. programs and positions.

Wednesday’s memo also ordered agency heads to “take down all outward facing media (websites, social media accounts, etc.) that inculcate or promote gender ideology,” and “withdraw any final or pending documents, directives, orders, regulations, materials, forms, communications, statements, and plans that inculcate or promote gender ideology.” Recipients of the memo were given a deadline of 5 p.m. Friday.

On Friday afternoon, it appeared that some agencies had already taken action: The websites for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System and its Social Vulnerability Index were not operating.

The removals were first reported by STAT. A spokesperson for the C.D.C. did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Lisa Friedman, Jonathan Weisman, Mark Mazzetti and Erica L. Green contributed reporting.