President Donald Trump indicated that a temporary suspension of government websites might not be a “bad idea” after several federal pages reportedly went offline Friday. In a response to a reporter’s question about the potential of halting government websites to remove references to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives, Trump remarked, “I don’t know. That doesn’t sound like a bad idea to me.”
FAA Website Temporarily Offline, Others Remain Accessible
Reports on Friday revealed that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) website was briefly unavailable, although it was restored shortly after. As of publication, other government websites remained operational.
The disappearance of public health data from websites, the blanking of entire webpages, and the removal of pronouns from email signatures were among the visible effects of federal agencies attempting to comply with a directive associated with Trump’s executive order. This order reversed protections previously afforded to transgender individuals, prompting swift action from federal agencies.
Office of Personnel Management Memo Issues New Guidelines
On Wednesday, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued a memo to agency heads, instructing them to eliminate references to “gender ideology” from government websites, contracts, and emails. The memo set a deadline of 5 p.m. Friday for the implementation of these changes. Among the actions outlined in the directive were the disbanding of employee resource groups, the termination of related grants and contracts, and the replacement of the term “gender” with “sex” on government forms.
Trump Attacking DEI
Trump has labeled DEI programs as “discrimination” and advocated for reinstating a strictly “merit-based” hiring approach.
Conservative organizations have lauded the rollback. Parents Defending Education, a group that has initiated lawsuits against diversity initiatives in schools, commended Trump for taking action “to eliminate these programs permanently.”
Critics of DEI often target pipeline programs, which do not alter hiring standards but instead encourage recruiters to consider a broader range of candidate pools, explained Antonio Ingram, senior counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. He emphasized that the racial and gender disparities seen today are the result of historical exclusion of women and people of color from opportunities, not a random occurrence.