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The Department of Justice has instructed employees to remove “preferred pronouns” from their email signature blocks, aligning with President Donald Trump’s executive order aimed at eliminating gender identity language from federal policy.
In a memo sent Tuesday to department staff, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche directed personnel to eliminate all non-official content from their email signatures. The move is part of the administration’s implementation of the executive order titled “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” according to The Washington Times.
“Extraneous content, such as preferred pronouns, motivational quotes, and GIFs, shall not be used in the signature block,” Blanche reportedly wrote. “The official Department logo may be added to the signature block at the employee’s discretion, directly below the last line in the block.”
The memo emphasized that the DOJ’s communications should be grounded in objective facts.
“In pursuit of its law and order agenda each day, the Department deals with facts. To maintain the public trust, the Department’s communications must therefore reflect reality,” it stated.
“Signature blocks should not include extraneous declarations, and certainly should not include content at odds with announced administration policies,” the memo continued.
Employees are required to comply with the new policy by August 25.
Trump’s January executive order directed federal agencies to formally recognize only two biological sexes, male and female, as fixed and not subject to change. The order warned that language and policies based on gender identity undermine scientific accuracy, public trust and women’s legal protections.
“The erasure of sex in language and policy has a corrosive impact not just on women but on the validity of the entire American system,” the order reads. “Basing Federal policy on truth is critical to scientific inquiry, public safety, morale, and trust in government itself.”
The order adds that “invalidating the true and biological category of ‘woman’ improperly transforms laws and policies designed to protect sex-based opportunities into laws and policies that undermine them.”
Trump’s administration has framed the directive as part of a broader effort to defend women’s rights and reestablish biological standards in government policy.