A mural of Pauli Murray painted on the side of a Foster Street building downtown. Murray’s biographical information has been removed from multiple federal archives. Art by Sadie Irby.
The federal government is erasing references to LGBTQ+ people from official government archives and websites.
This quiet but sweeping revision of history has huge implications, not only for the LGBTQ+ community, but for anyone who values truth and transparency.
Recent reports reveal that the U.S. Department of State and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have begun removing online content that references LGBTQ+ identities. While some pages have been restored following legal intervention, they now have factually untrue disclaimers.
For example, a court ordered restoration of LGBTQ+ related content on the CDC now features a statement from the Trump administration denouncing “gender ideology” and rejecting the existence of trans and nonbinary people.
This language is not only dehumanizing, but is a blatant attempt to redefine reality through political power.
This effort extends past modern health resources. Federal defense archives, which document key aspects of American history, are also being changed. The approach is not only erasing references to LGBTQ+ identity, but also leading to the erasure of people who have the last name “Gay,” such as records of the Enola Gay, the plane that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
Even certain historical figures such as Pauli Murray, a Black, queer lawyer and civil rights activist, are at risk of being erased. Removing Murray from the national narrative is especially dangerous to LGBTQ+ youth who rely on such figures for representation and inspiration.
This aggressive censorship is not just a matter of language, but erasure. It erases the contributions of LGBTQ+ people to the nation’s history, removes lifesaving resources from public view, and sends the message that queer lives and identities are unworthy of acknowledgement or protection.
Young people, particularly LGBTQ+ youth, are already at higher risk for mental health struggles and isolation. The removal of resources and role models makes these risks even greater. What message does it send when the government itself is actively working to erase their existence from public life?
History is not meant to be changed to fit an administration’s ideology. It is meant to be recorded fully, not just including what one party believes. The erasure of LGBTQ+ icons from federal archives is not just an administrative decision, it’s a political weapon, and if we allow it to continue unchecked, we risk losing the truth along with it.
