The Trump administration has a nasty habit of deleting information from government websites. And the latest cuts focused on the health of the LGBTQ community.
Information about LGBT health was removed from the Department of Health and Human Services website, watchdog group the Sunlight Foundation discovered on Wednesday. In fact, no health topic pages specifically relate to LGBT health on the site anymore. Since taking office, the Trump administration has removed at least three other in-depth mentions of LGBT issues from government websites.
In fall 2017, HHS’ Office of Women’s Health, which is responsible for working to advance women’s health issues, removed its webpage with extensive information about the health of lesbian and bisexual women, according to the Sunlight Foundation. The office is one of the health department’s most-trafficked websites, with about 700,000 visits last month, according to The Hill.
But the removal is far from the first time the government has deleted or avoided LGBT issues from their sites and plans since President Trump took office:
- In January 2017, the State Department removed nearly every mention of LGBT issues.
- In March 2017, the Census Bureau concluded they no longer needed to ask about sexual orientation and gender identity on their survey, which helps determine how to distribute hundreds of billions of federal dollars.
- In June 2017, HHS stopped including a question on sexuality on its federal survey, but the question was restored after an outcry from LGBT advocates.
- In October 2017, HHS removed all mentions of the LGBT population and their health needs in their Strategic Plan for fiscal years 2018-2022.
Since Trump took office, the administration has routinely deleted other information that conflicts with the views of its officials, as well. Read more via VICE