Trump’s Minions Have Quietly Disappeared Most Federal Data on Gender Identity

President Trump's executive order "Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government," signed January 20, 2025, has driven changes to nearly three-quarters of over 500 federal databases affected by his orders, according to data analyst Melanie Klein of DataIndex. The removals stripped gender identity options from critical programs including the 988 suicide and crisis lifeline, passport applications, and federal student aid forms, with 83 percent of changes processed through a non-substantive review that bypassed public comment requirements. The alterations affect transgender populations who experience elevated rates of suicide and homelessness, making disparities harder to document and address, as Caroline Medina of the Movement Advancement Project noted. The Health and Human Services Department alone accounted for nearly half of all deletions, dismantling data infrastructure that previously tracked health disparities in LGBTQ communities. The changes have already spawned dozens of lawsuits, and agencies continue requesting implementation guidance on the executive order as they search for remaining gender-related data to remove.