4 days ago
Here are the people Trump is trying to delete
Women, people of color and those in the LGBTQ+ community are main targets
When the Trump administration encounters a group it doesn't respect or care for, oftentimes it just deletes them — specifically, the very record of their existence.
For example, when the Defense Department was asked to cull all DEI-related content from its websites, it removed approximately 26,000 images. A list of the deleted photos was given to the Associated Press. About 19,000 of them included descriptions, and our analysis found that 4 out of 5 depicted women, people in the LGBTQ+ community and racial minorities. We recovered a handful of the photos so you can see what's missing.
Many erased images included American service members from the past and present, both on and off duty. Most of the people were unnamed.
About 80 percent of the erased images contained one or more targeted keywords, such as gay, transgender, women, Hispanic and Black.
In a nutshell, the purge sought to exclude the diversity the U.S. military once celebrated.
This is part of a broader campaign to delete the statistical and visual evidence of undesirables, or at least those who may not fit into President Donald Trump's conception of the new American 'golden age.' Entire demographics are being scrubbed from records of both America's past and present — including people of color, transgender people, women, immigrants and people with disabilities. They are now among America's 'missing persons.'
This is a chart that shows, of the images with text descriptions, the portion that include words related to targeted groups. Six percent of images included at least one word related to LGBTQ+ communities, seven percent with DEI-related words, 22% with female-gendered words and 46% with words related to race and ethnicity. Seventy-nine percent of all the images with descriptions included at least one word from any of those four categories. The analysis was done by Amanda Shendruk.
A look at the deleted groups
On the list of 26,481 images targeted for deletion, 19,017 included text descriptions.
Of images with descriptions, the fraction with words related to:
LGBTQ+ | Ex: Pride, gay, transgender
6%
DEI | Ex: Diversity, inclusion, bias
7%
Female gender* | Ex: She, women, her
22%
Race and ethnicity | Ex: Heritage, Hispanic, Black
46%
Any of the above categories
79%
*Fewer than 1% included a male-gendered term.
Source: Analysis by Amanda Shendruk/The Washington Post
A look at the deleted groups
On the list of 26,481 images targeted for deletion, 19,017 included text descriptions.
Of images with descriptions, the fraction with words related to:
LGBTQ+ | Ex: Pride, gay, transgender
6%
DEI | Ex: Diversity, inclusion, bias
7%
Female gender* | Ex: She, women, her
22%
Race and ethnicity | Ex: Heritage, Hispanic, Black
46%
Any of the above categories
79%
*Fewer than 1% included a male-gendered term.
Source: Analysis by Amanda Shendruk/The Washington Post
A look at the deleted groups
On the list of 26,481 images targeted for deletion, 19,017 included text descriptions.
Of images with descriptions, the fraction with words related to:
LGBTQ+ | Ex: Pride, gay, transgender
6%
DEI | Ex: Diversity, inclusion, bias
7%
Female gender* | Ex: She, women, her
22%
Race and ethnicity | Ex: Heritage, Hispanic, Black
46%
Any of the above categories
79%
*Fewer than 1% included a male-gendered term.
Source: Analysis by Amanda Shendruk/The Washington Post
Story continues below advertisement
Advertisement
People who aren't White are an especially frequent target of government erasure.
Some are higher-profile, such as baseball legend Jackie Robinson or the recently-fired Carla Hayden, the first Black American and first woman to serve as librarian of Congress. But most are ordinary people going about their jobs and lives, who may not even realize recognition of their existence has been terminated.
Everyday Americans who happen to be nonwhite have been deleted from federal datasets and indexes designed to inform government preparations for emergencies. Some government mapping tools that involve race have been taken down entirely.
In response to an executive order banning DEI, some federal agencies now forbid the recognition of Black History Month and employee affinity groups. And keywords such as 'Black,' 'ethnicity' and 'indigenous' have appeared on lists of banned words for public communications and scientific grants.
These systemic deletions are ironic in the case of the military. When the Supreme Court struck down race-based affirmative action in college admissions in 2023, it specifically exempted military service academies. The justices appear to have been swayed by military leaders who argued that a deliberately diverse military serves national security. 'Diversity in the officer corps creates a more cohesive, more competent, and ultimately more lethal fighting force,' the leaders wrote in an amicus brief.
But under this administration, service members and veterans who exemplify racial 'diversity' are now MIA, at least visually.
**ONE TIME USE ONLY. MANDATORY CREDIT. For op-erased-shendrukrampell about Trump removing people of color and LGBTQA people from administrative existence.
Where did gay and trans people go?
The military has also been particularly aggressive at removing any evidence of the LGBTQ+ community from its installations and facilities.
At the start of Pride Month, Defense officials announced they are seeking to rename a ship that honors Harvey Milk, the late gay rights icon and former Navy officer. (This is part of a broader effort to ensure military installations reflect a 'warrior ethos,' according to a Pentagon statement.)
The U.S. Navy launched the USNS Harvey Milk in 2021. (Alex Gallardo/AP)
At one point, U.S. military-run schools in Europe took down all rainbows from kindergarten classrooms. Schools have since been told that rainbows are allowed, provided they aren't used as a gay pride symbol.
Meanwhile, trans people have been removed from military ranks altogether (litigation is ongoing). Though the military is hardly alone in attempting to purge this demographic; trans and other gender-nonconforming citizens have been a frequent target of erasure across the government.
On Trump's first day in office, he signed an executive order directing the government to stop recognizing trans and nonbinary people entirely. The order included a directive to the State Department and Department of Homeland Security 'to require that government-issued identification documents, including passports, visas, and Global Entry cards,' reflect their sex 'at conception.'
Trans activists and LGBTQ+ rights groups have condemned the change as dehumanizing and insulting. ('Remember that you do not need the government's permission to exist,' Lambda Legal advised in an online FAQ about legal rights and ID applications.) On a practical level, the policy effectively left some citizens without usable travel documents. TSA agents have flagged some (real) passports as fraudulent because the sex listed on the document — the sex assigned at birth — does not match that of the traveler standing before them. There is ongoing litigation over this policy as well.
Trans people have similarly been removed from sites across the government:
This is a graphic that shows government webpages that have been altered or deleted. The state department removed trans-specific international travel warnings. The Centers for disease control and prevention is no longer counting trans people in federal health data, and removed pages about trans health risks. The deleted webpages were restored by court order, but now include a note. The Department of Justice has stopped tracking assaults on trans people, a group four times more likely to be victims of violent crime. The U.S. National Park Service removed references to trans people on the Stonewall National Monument website.
Before
Today
LGBTQI+ Travelers
Jan. 31
After
Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Travelers
June 5
State Department
Removed trans-specific international
travel warnings.
Before
Jan. 26
After
June 5
Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention
Is no longer counting trans people in federal health data and removed pages about
trans health risks. The deleted webpages were restored by court order but now
include a note.
Before
Jan. 30
After
The requested page could not be found
June 5
Justice Department
Has stopped tracking assaults on trans people, a group four times more likely to be victims of violent crime.
Before
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender,
or queer (LGBTQ+) person
Feb. 13
After
gay or lesbian person
June 5
U.S. National Park Service
Removed references to trans people on the Stonewall National Monument website.
Before
After
Today
LGBTQI+ Travelers
Jan. 31
Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Travelers
June 5
State Department
Removed trans-specific international travel warnings.
Before
After
Jan. 26
June 5
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Is no longer counting trans people in federal health data and removed pages about trans health risks. The deleted webpages were restored by court order but now include a note.
Before
After
Jan. 30
The requested page could not be found
June 5
Justice Department
Has stopped tracking assaults on trans people,
a group four times more likely to be victims
of violent crime.
Before
After
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender,
or queer (LGBTQ+) person
Feb. 13
gay or lesbian person
June 5
U.S. National Park Service
Removed references to trans people on the Stonewall National Monument website.
Before
After
State Department
Removed trans-specific international travel warnings.
LGBTQI+ Travelers
Jan. 31
Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Travelers
June 5
Before
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
After
Is no longer counting trans people in federal health data and removed pages about trans health risks. The deleted webpages were restored by court order but now include a note.
Jan. 26
June 5
Before
After
Justice Department
Has stopped tracking assaults on trans people, a group four times more likely to be victims of violent crime.
Jan. 30
The requested page could not be found
June 5
Before
After
U.S. National Park Service
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender,
or queer (LGBTQ+) person
Removed references to trans people on the Stonewall National Monument website.
Feb. 13
gay or lesbian person
June 5
Story continues below advertisement
Advertisement
**ONE TIME USE ONLY. MANDATORY CREDIT. For op-erased-shendrukrampell about Trump removing people of color and LGBTQA people from administrative existence.
The invisible woman
Meanwhile, some women's rights and protections have been erased under this administration. In some cases, so have their jobs, health concerns and identities.
Women (alongside racial minorities) have been disproportionately fired in purges of National Institutes of Health science review boards and senior military leadership positions. A landmark study on women's health — the Women's Health Initiative — was canceled entirely in April, though eventually restored after significant public outcry. The Labor Department likewise canceled grants for women's apprenticeship programs last week.
More broadly, the terms 'woman' and 'women' have also appeared on banned-word lists for federal agency websites, grant applications and other external communications, including at the National Science Foundation and the Food and Drug Administration.
**ONE TIME USE ONLY. MANDATORY CREDIT. For op-erased-shendrukrampell about Trump removing people of color and LGBTQA people from administrative existence.
De-documenting immigrants
In his first term, Trump tried to delete immigrants from the decennial census counts used for apportioning legislative representation and drawing congressional districts. He ultimately failed.
This time around, the administration has taken a slightly different tack: manipulating other administrative records for immigrant families, from cradle to grave.
In another day one executive order, Trump tried to strip birthright citizenship from the children of many groups of immigrants, including many parents here lawfully. The order has been temporarily blocked, but if effective it would mean these children would no longer be counted as U.S. citizens — and would be denied access to the rights they're entitled to. Including, presumably, the right to stay in this country.
Supporters of birthright citizenship outside the Supreme Court, where the justices are hearing a Trump administration challenge to the constitutional provision in D.C. on May 15. (Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)
Months later, DHS and the U.S. DOGE Service deliberately misclassified more than 6,000 mostly Latino immigrants as 'dead' in Social Security databases, even though they were very much alive. Their newfound spectral status would prevent them from working or receiving federal benefits they might be legally entitled to.
Administration officials have said the goal was to pressure people to leave the country. Ultimately the administration backed down and resurrected at least some of the 'dead' in official recordkeeping.
Story continues below advertisement
Advertisement
**ONE TIME USE ONLY. MANDATORY CREDIT. For op-erased-shendrukrampell about Trump removing people of color and LGBTQA people from administrative existence.
Fastest way to make Americans look richer? Stop tallying the poor.
While the administration's attacks have clearly been focused on non-Whites, LGBTQ+ groups, immigrants and women, others' existence has also proven inconvenient for the Trump agenda. Take, for instance, the poor.
Trump's Department of Health and Human Services fired the entire team that calculates government-wide poverty guidelines, which determine who is sufficiently low-income to qualify for benefits such as food stamps. Perhaps if we never define or quantify poverty, the administration seems to believe, poor people would cease to exist — and therefore would no longer be entitled to safety-net services.
The Social Security Administration similarly took down its Disability Analysis File, a long-running dataset containing historical, longitudinal and one-time data on all children and preretirement adults with disabilities. The agency also canceled multiple surveys tracking outcomes for children and adults on government income support related to their disabilities.
Out of survey, out of sight, out of mind.
Other government acknowledgments of people with different physical or mental abilities — such as long-standing federal guidance to private businesses about their obligations under the Americans With Disabilities Act — have also been deleted.
The administration's efforts to disclaim people with disabilities has even turned international: The State Department is removing all references from its annual human rights report to people with disabilities (as well as women, indigenous communities and LGBTQ+ people).
Americans didn't ask for this
However anti-DEI some of Trump's base might be, Americans writ large do not appear supportive of campaigns to expunge government recognition of these groups. This is evident from recent YouGov polling on views of Trump's efforts to delete references to diversity from federal websites, buildings and official reports.
This chart shows data from YouGov polling that shows most Americans don't want websites and words banned. 44% oppose removing government websites that use the terms gender, racism, diversity or bias (while 38% support it). 50% oppose removing references to women, LGBTQ people and disabled people from the State Department's annual human rights report (while 27% support this). And 55% oppose removing from federal buildings posters and materials that emphasize the inclusion of women and racial minorities. 30% support this.
Most Americans don't want
websites and words banned
Do you support or oppose ...
Removing government websites that use the terms gender, racism, diversity or bias
38%
18
44
Strongly/somewhat
support
Not sure
Strongly/somewhat
oppose
Removing references to women, LGBTQ people, and disabled people from the State Department's annual human rights report
27%
23
50
Removing from federal buildings posters and materials that emphasize the inclusion of women and racial minorities
30%
16
55
Percentages on final question are greater than 100 because
of rounding. Questions are from surveys conducted
Feb. 11-14, April 4-9 and Feb. 26-28, 2025.
Source: YouGov
Most Americans don't want websites and words banned
Do you support or oppose ...
Removing government websites that use the terms gender, racism, diversity or bias
38%
18
44
Strongly/somewhat
support
Not sure
Strongly/somewhat
oppose
Removing references to women, LGBTQ people, and disabled people from the State Department's annual human rights report
27%
23
50
Removing from federal buildings posters and materials that emphasize the inclusion of women and racial minorities
30%
16
55
Percentages on final question are greater than 100 because of rounding.
Questions are from surveys conducted Feb. 11-14, April 4-9 and
Feb. 26-28, 2025.
Source: YouGov
Most Americans don't want websites and words banned
Do you support or oppose ...
Removing government websites that use the terms gender, racism, diversity or bias
38%
18
44
Strongly/somewhat support
Not sure
Strongly/somewhat oppose
Removing references to women, LGBTQ people, and disabled people from the State Department's annual human rights report
27%
23
50
Removing from federal buildings posters and materials that emphasize the inclusion of women and racial minorities
30%
16
55
Percentages on final question are greater than 100 because of rounding. Questions are from
surveys conducted Feb. 11-14, April 4-9 and Feb. 26-28, 2025.
Source: YouGov
And why would Americans support this? Most people see themselves in at least one of these groups — and they want to be seen by their government, too.
Story continues below advertisement
Advertisement
