Employees at multiple federal agencies were ordered to remove pronouns from their email signatures by Friday afternoon, according to internal memos obtained by ABC News.

Summary

Federal employees at multiple agencies were ordered to remove pronouns from email signatures by Friday, following executive orders signed by Donald Trump to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs.

Agencies including the CDC, Department of Transportation, and Department of Energy issued directives citing the new policy.

Some employees expressed frustration, with one CDC worker calling it unprecedented.

The Office of Personnel Management also instructed agencies to disable pronoun prompts in email systems, marking another step in Trump’s broader rollback of DEI initiatives.

  • @[email protected]English
    44•14 hours ago

    You mean to tell me the US government doesn’t have a system that controls employee signatures? Are they running Windows NT still???

    -Luci (She/Her)

    • @flashpanda
      55•13 hours ago

      Federal employee here. We have to make our own email signatures. I have not been told to remove pronouns by an official channel, but I have already removed pronouns and switched to having Ms. infront of my name, cause it has the same effect and the administration is too stupid to know that.

      • @[email protected]
        42•13 hours ago

        You heard it here first, folks. Pronouns are out, prenouns are in.

        Edit: although this is not inclusive for our non-binary friends. Open to suggestions on that one.

        • The Pantser
          14•13 hours ago

          Mx maybe? Follows the same format but allows for it to be non gendering. Idk I have a feeling it might be incorrect or there maybe a issue with it having a x because of chromosomes.

        • @MegaUltraChickenEnglish
          9•13 hours ago

          although this is not inclusive for our non-binary friends. Open to suggestions on that one.

          I’m by no means an expert here, but I think that’s what “Mx” is used for.

        • troybot [he/him]
          11•13 hours ago

          From now on flashpanda must to refer to flashpanda in third person like Solomon Grundy.

          • @[email protected]English
            6•11 hours ago

            peoplebeproblems like this. peoplebeproblems recommend having everyone start referring to eachother in the full third person. Thank troybot, peoplebeproblems hope this catches on.

        • themeatbridge
          10•13 hours ago

          Many nonbinary people use Mx. but that’s a personal decision.

          • @jordanlundM
            4•11 hours ago

            One of my favorite sci fi authors simplified it to just “M.”

            Mr., Mrs., Miss, Ms. can just be boiled down to “M.”.

            If I actually cared, that’s probably what I’d pick.

              • @jordanlundM
                2•9 hours ago

                I could see it working for that too!

    • @soEZ
      2•10 hours ago

      Lol, we on Citrix cant even set a signature anymore cuz outlook is screwed up

    • @Brkdncr
      5•12 hours ago

      Pronouns should be used at the discretion of the individual. They should be able to choose who receives them, how it’s relayed, and what the pronouns will be. They should be able to change them whenever they want.

      Putting this into a database such as active directory isn’t simple when it has requirements that I’ve stated.

      It’s sometimes easier to just let the individual maintain their own signature.

      • @[email protected]English
        2•12 hours ago

        We use a third party tool and a custom schema. Users can use a simple agent to update pronouns or make other adjustments like display their direct line. Works great, AD is still the source of truth.

    • Optional
      7•14 hours ago

      Oh, no. No, no no. It’s much worse than that.

      Hell if they were still on NT we’d be safer.

    • TimeSquirrel
      6•13 hours ago

      I wouldn’t be surprised if there are still a few Novell Netware boxes out there.