CDC Removes HIV-Related Content From its Website in Effort to Comply With Trump's 'Gender Ideology' Order

The CDC’s main HIV page was down temporarily but has been restored. The CDC began removing all content related to gender identity on Friday, according to one government staffer. HIV-related pages were apparently caught up in that action. CDC employees were told in a Jan 29. email from Charles Ezell, the acting director of the U.S. office of personnel management, titled “Defending Women,” that they’re not to make references or promote “gender ideology” — a term often used by conservative groups to describe what they consider “woke” views on sex and gender — and that they are to recognize only two sexes, male and female, according to a memo obtained by NBC News. Employees initially struggled with how to implement the new policy, with a deadline of Friday afternoon, the staffer said. Ultimately, agency staffers began pulling down numerous HIV-related webpages — regardless of whether it included gender — rushing to meet the deadline.

Trump’s memo focused on gender and diversity, but as agencies work to comply, seemingly unrelated information has also disappeared from public view. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has removed interactive websites tracking levels of HIV, hepatitis and sexually transmitted diseases, as well as one where people could look up their community’s risk level in case of a natural disaster. Also coming down: the CDC monitoring program for health-related behaviors in high school-aged children. It has tracked their nutrition, physical activity levels, sexual behavior and tobacco and drug use for 35 years.

Several government webpages that appeared unrelated to gender ideology also went dark. The CDC’s AtlasPlus tool, which allows users to access data related to HIV, viral hepatitis and other sexually transmitted diseases, went offline Friday, along with the CDC’s Social Vulnerability Index, which is used to assess “the degree of social vulnerability in communities at risk of environmental catastrophes.” A CDC page with information about HIV testing was also blank, as was the entire US Census Bureau’s website. The CDC and the Census Bureau did not respond to The Post’s request for comment.

The CDC took offline recommendations on how doctors should treat sexually transmitted infections and vaccinate adults Friday. The move was part of a sweeping purge of all mentions of "gender" from federal websites ordered by the Trump administration this week. The agency was racing to meet a 5 p.m. deadline set by the Office of Personnel Management.

Several CDC webpages with references to LGBTQ+ health are no longer available. A page from the HHS Office for Civil Rights outlining the rights of LGBTQ+ people in health care settings was also gone. The changes are examples of a broad push by the Trump administration on gender issues.