The State Department has directed employees in a new style guide to avoid using identity- and gender-related terms, such as LGBTQI+ and other acronyms.
The guide stands in stark contrast to the Biden administration’s State Department, including a memo signed by former Secretary of State Antony Blinken reportedly encouraging officials to use “gender-neutral language whenever possible,” including “they/them” and “ze/zir,” Semafor reported Friday.
In the new guide, which was seen by Semafor, the State Department’s executive secretariat told employees to avoid using “they/them” as a singular pronoun; stop the use of “gender” to refer to people; and discouraged the use of words such as “bias,” “equity,” “ally,” “discrimination,” “diversity,” and “marginalized,” except in specific contexts.
The guide also flags the phrase “global south” for creating “unhelpful narratives” about development, and said staff should use “gay and lesbian” instead of “LGBTQI+,” “LGB,” or other acronyms.
The State Department’s executive secretariat sets the overarching tone for the department’s cables, memos, and other official documents.
President Donald Trump has made eliminating woke ideology a mission of his second term. During his March address to a joint session of Congress, he said, “We’re getting wokeness out of our schools and out of our military, and it’s already out, and it’s out of our society. We don’t want it. Wokeness is trouble. Wokeness is bad. It’s gone. It’s gone. And we feel so much better for it, don’t we? Don’t we feel better?”
Government agencies have reportedly ordered the removal of gender pronouns from email signatures. Also, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told The New York Times last month that the administration won’t respond to journalists with pronouns in their bios.