Many federal employees were aware that a Trump administration would target diversity, equality, and inclusion positions within their own agencies. The only questions were when and how far he would go.
According to a message from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), it happened for the majority of employees at 5 p.m. on Wednesday when they received notice that they would have to take paid vacation. The message came after President Donald Trump’s executive order that terminated federal agencies’ diversity, equality, and inclusion initiatives.
A government employee who has been on leave from the agency where he has worked for more than 20 years declared, “I’m mad.” He asked to remain anonymous because he was worried about losing his government job in the future.
I have dedicated twenty-three years of my life to this organization,” he remarked.
Trump pledged to halt “government policy trying to socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life” and create a society that is “color-blind” and “merit-based” in his inaugural address on Monday. His executive order is an extension of earlier steps he took during his first term to sabotage diversity initiatives, as well as the conclusion of Trump and his advisors’ rhetoric and promises.
In addition, the OPM memo established a deadline of January 31 for federal agencies to submit a written plan to terminate the employees placed on paid leave.
According to him, the worker who was sent on leave after 23 years had served as a DEI adviser for his agency for two years prior to December, when his office was shut down in preparation for the policies of the Trump administration. Though he presently receives compensation and benefits, he worries that his career, which he views as a major part of his life, would be lost if his work is terminated since he won’t be able to pay his bills.
In the South, I was a young gay boy. For many years, I felt dislocated, different, and othered, and I was not at ease in my own flesh or in my house,” he added. “I was also raised in a less affluent household.” It simply inspired me to make the most of my privilege in order to better places for people who aren’t as fortunate.
‘We’ve become pawns’
A woman of color who works for the federal government and was put on leave this week claimed that she had been getting ready to lose her job long before Election Day. She also asked to remain anonymous because she was afraid of reprisals.
The government employee began purchasing larger-sized clothing for her children in June, assuming she wouldn’t be able to afford new ones as they grew. According to her, there weren’t many gifts beneath the Christmas tree last month.
“It’s difficult,” she remarked. Because you’re trying to prepare for everything, you decide not to take your kids to Target so they won’t ask for a lot of things that you can’t afford.”
The woman claimed that even with her precautions, the speed at which Trump’s order was carried out still shocked and infuriated her. She said that her superiors did not explain the reason for her leave when she was informed of it.
Your objective is to truly assist the American people when you choose to work as a government servant. She added that everybody working in this field is aware that the objective is to constantly assist everyone. The fact that we have been reduced to mere puppets in this struggle for power is depressing. However, the American people voted for this again.
According to a man who heads an LGBTQ ERG at a Cabinet-level organization, his group assisted the organization in developing internal guidelines for staff members who change their gender identity. He requested that his name not be used out of concern for reprisals. Procedures for updating a trans employee’s internal records to appropriately reflect their new gender identity and name were part of the policies. The once-public policy was no longer accessible on the agency’s website as of Wednesday night.
According to him, a transitioning employee will now have to figure out the entire procedure on their own because they are making the wheel for each person repeatedly. “In essence, the employee bears the entire burden of trying to figure it out in the absence of the policy.
The man went on to say that many LGBTQ employees at the federal agency told him they intend to return to the closet at work after Trump’s reelection in November. “My plan is to be invisible for the next four years,” he remarked, quoting numerous others.
The executive order and memo’s effects have been felt across the federal government. Employees received a letter from the Wilson Center, a Washington think tank run by president-appointed trustees, closing all offices pertaining to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility as well as associated contracts. The letter, which cited the order, claimed that the programs caused shameful discrimination, squandered federal resources, and separated Americans based on race.
In a different order, Trump instructed the Federal Aviation Administration to stop its DEI initiatives.Trump’s actions have resulted in the hiring of people with significant intellectual disabilities, mental health disorders, and total paralysis, according to an accompanying fact sheet. It also mandated that all FAA employees have their performance reviewed.
Additionally, Trump revoked a 1965 directive that was signed by then-President Lyndon Johnson and forbade discrimination in federal contractor hiring.
DEI initiatives have been branded as discriminatory by Trump and his supporters.
During his campaign, President Trump pledged to eradicate DEI from the federal government and restore America to a merit-based economy where individuals are employed on the basis of their qualifications rather than their skin color. Karoline Leavitt, the press secretary for the White House, stated that this is another victory for Americans of all races, religions, and creeds.
Many of the civil rights and diversity laws and programs were implemented because, for decades, few people of color, people with disabilities and veterans held the tax-supported jobs.
In 2023, white people still were the majority of federal workers at 59.5% and men outnumbered women 55% to 45%, according to an analysis of federal data by thePartnership for Public Service, a group that focuses on drawing talented people to the federal workforce and improving how government works. According to the analysis, white employees hold 74% of senior executive level roles, while individuals of color hold 26%.
Today, non-Hispanic white people make up 58.4% of the population in the United States, while women make up 50.5%.
Ramiro Cavazos is president and CEO of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber, which has worked to increase the number of Hispanics and Latinos in political roles and the federal government.
Cavazos dismissed the order as political messaging.He questioned whether Trump’s order will have much staying power when they bump up against the realities of workforce demographics. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the fastest-growing worker category is Hispanics.
He asserted that we are the only labor present. At the end of the day, they know who the workforce is going to come from.
‘There is a lot of fear’
The repercussions of Trump s executive order were being felt even among workers not placed on paid leave.
Right now there is a lot of fear, said one federal worker who did not want to be named to protect the worker’s job. Some employees have stopped participating in messaging apps or email strings that connect workers of similar racial or ethnic backgrounds, the worker said.
It feels like we are in Cuba, said the worker, whose job was not eliminated but whose duties include providing access to resources to minority communities.
The worker said colleagues were concerned about using social media or their phones, even personal ones, for fear they are being monitored or tapped.
A man who works in a federal agency, and who asked that his name not be published due to fears of retaliation, said a leadership training his team was assembling was scrapped in response to the new order. The training was designed to teach managers how to handle working with multigenerational staff.
Everyone has to completely fall in line. There s no real room for dissent, he said. It s going to be a long couple of years.
The OPM memo also instructed agency and department heads to provide lists of DEI offices in their divisions and its employees. An email was sent to all federal workersthreatening “adverse consequences” if they fail to report colleagueswhose DEI duties may have been obscured or disguised.
The more than two-decade federal employee who became a DEI adviser was moved to a civil rights office in December. At 5 p.m. on Wednesday, he was notified in an email that he d be placed on leave with benefits immediately, that his email would be suspended and he d get updates when they were available.
He said DEI is being used as a convenient scapegoat for more grievance politics.
The way in which DEIA is talked about and presented and used as some kind of boogeyman in conservative politics is absolutely incorrect on its face as to what DEIA means, what we do, how beneficial those programs are to, not just minority communities within the workforce, but to everyone, the worker said.
DEI policies benefit everyone. A rising tide raises all boats, he said.
Former President Joe Biden had promoted diversity, equity and inclusion during his administration and addressed it in executive orders.
In a 2023 order, he required every government agency to create a DEI team and ordered an oversight committee to steer the DEI work. Trumphas rescindedthat and other orders.
Jes s Soriano, president of the American Federal Government Employees Local 3403 and a federal worker, noted that the federal workforce has a lower pay gap across genders, races and other groups compared to the private sector. We are able to provide professional service to the government under an oath of office, regardless of what we look like, he said.
The government still has a lot of work to do to ensure the workforce represents the people it serves, he said.
This is another way for President Trump to undermine the merit-based civil service and then turn hiring and firing decisions into loyalty tests, Soriano said.
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