A growing list of words and materials are being scrubbed from government websites and documents in an attempt by the Trump administration to remove all references not only to diversity, equity and inclusion, but also to climate change, vaccines, and a host of other topics.
PEN America initially compiled a list of more than 250 words and phrases reportedly no longer considered acceptable by the Trump administration, from “abortion,” to “women,” and including “disability,” “elderly,” “Native American” and, unsurprisingly, the “Gulf of Mexico.”
The list has now expanded to 350+ words, encompassing even desirable goals like “safe drinking water,” the mention of which can result in research grants or other agreements with the federal government getting nixed.
Our list is most assuredly incomplete. The New York Times published a list of words banned by federal agencies. Additional terms were reported by Reuters, The Washington Post, Propublica, Science, Gizmodo, 404 Media, Popular Information, Politico’s E&E News and the nonprofit news outlet More Perfect Union, which have been aggregated into a single list, below.
Some of these moves seem tragically comical, like the elimination of photos from a Defense Department database of the World War II B-29 aircraft Enola Gay while erasing the recognition of the service of LGBTQ+ Americans who served in the military. But this is not just the ham-handed applications of President Trump’s executive orders. The reckless manner in which this is being done without regard to the consequences illustrates its nefarious intent.
“How can we have intelligent or difficult conversations if we can’t even use the words, the most basic unit of meaning?” said Jonathan Friedman, Sy Syms managing director of U.S. Free Expression Programs. “We’re now living in a country where the government has decided that a sweeping array of everyday terms will now be erased and forbidden in government agencies, websites, or even scientific research proposals. These prohibitions on language are utterly chilling, and will impede efforts to research real world problems and advance human knowledge.”
The White House has said it did not create a banned words list but has instead left it to federal agencies to interpret how to comply with executive orders that solely recognize male and female sex or eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. Nonetheless, some departments have added terms that seem to have nothing at all to do with those executive orders.
In fact, any topic that has “received recent attention from Congress” or “widespread or critical media attention” may be subject to deletion or alteration at the National Cancer Institute, ProPublica reported. And agencies like the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service, which works to find scientific solutions to challenges facing the U.S. agriculture industry, must attempt to function without mentioning water, air, soil, or groundwater pollution, or the insidious PFAS chemicals previously recognized as a major health concern to all Americans.
Even the term “cancer moonshot,” which refers to a program that aimed to cut the nation’s cancer death rate by half, has been targeted for erasure, presumably because it was started under the Obama administration and championed by Joe Biden during his term.
These policies’ tentacles already extend beyond government websites, though removing HIV resources from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, regardless of whether they mentioned “gender ideology” or other banned terms, is bad enough. Reports say scientists are self-censoring in hopes of improving their chances of getting government grants.
That’s exactly the sort of response the administration is hoping for, and it will immeasurably limit the research and other work supported by the federal government, universities and more, on the public’s behalf.
While every president aims to use language that reflects its priorities in its communications, the widespread restrictions on specific words represent a dystopian effort to control what Americans think and say, despite President Trump’s lip service to “freedom of speech and ending federal censorship.”
There’s nothing “free” about banning words or ideas.
This article was originally published on March 21 and has been updated with additional reporting.
Banned Words List
| abortion | ideology |
| accessible | immigrants |
| accessibility | implicit bias |
| activism | implicit biases |
| activists | inclusion |
| advocacy | inclusive |
| advocate | inclusive leadership |
| advocates | inclusiveness |
| affirming care | inclusivity |
| affordable home | increase diversity |
| affordable housing | increase the diversity |
| agricultural water | indigenous |
| agrivoltaics | indigenous community/people |
| air pollution | inequalities |
| all-inclusive | inequality |
| allyship | inequitable |
| alternative energy | inequities |
| anti-racism | injustice |
| antiracist | institutional |
| integration | |
| asexual | intersectional |
| assigned at birth | intersectionality |
| assigned female at birth | intersex |
| assigned male at birth | issues concerning pending legislation |
| at risk | justice40 |
| autism | key groups |
| aviation fuel | key people |
| barrier | key populations |
| barriers | Latinx |
| belong | lesbian |
| bias | LGBT |
| biased | LGBTQ |
| Biased toward | low-emission vehicle |
| biases | low-income housing |
| Biases towards | male dominated |
| bioenergy | marginalize |
| biofuel | marginalized |
| biogas | marijuana |
| biomethane | measles |
| biologically female | membrane filtration |
| biologically male | men who have sex with men |
| bipoc | mental health |
| bisexual | methane emissions |
| Black | microplastics |
| black and latinx | migrant |
| breastfeed + people | minorities |
| breastfeed + person | minority |
| Cancer Moonshot | minority serving institution |
| carbon emissions mitigation | most risk |
| carbon footprint | msm |
| carbon markets | multicultural |
| carbon pricing | Mx |
| carbon sequestration | MSI |
| CEC | Native American |
| changing climate | NCI budget |
| net-zero | |
| chestfeed + people | non-binary |
| chestfeed + person | nonbinary |
| noncitizen | |
| clean energy | non-conforming |
| clean fuel | nonpoint source pollution |
| clean power | nuclear energy |
| clean water | nuclear power |
| climate | obesity |
| climate accountability | opioids |
| climate change | oppression |
| climate-change | oppressive |
| climate crisis | orientation |
| climate consulting | pansexual |
| climate models | PCB |
| climate model | peanut allergies |
| climate resilience | people-centered care |
| climate risk | people of color |
| climate science | people + uterus |
| climatesmart | person-centered |
| climate smart agriculture | person-centered care |
| climate smart forestry | photovoltaic |
| climate variability | PFAS |
| commercial sex worker | PFOA |
| community | polarization |
| community diversity | political |
| community equity | pollution |
| confirmation bias | pollution abatement |
| contaminants of environmental concern | pollution remediation |
| continuum | prefabricated housing |
| Covid-19 | pregnant people |
| cultural competence | pregnant person |
| cultural differences | pregnant persons |
| cultural heritage | prejudice |
| Cultural relevance | privilege |
| cultural sensitivity | privileges |
| culturally appropriate | promote |
| culturally responsive | promote diversity |
| definition | promoting diversity |
| DEI | pronoun |
| DEIA | pronouns |
| DEIAB | prostitute |
| DEIJ | pyrolysis |
| diesel | queer |
| dietary guidelines/ultraprocessed foods | QT |
| disabilities | race |
| disability | race and ethnicity |
| disabled | racial |
| disadvantaged | racial diversity |
| discriminated | racial identity |
| discrimination | racial inequity |
| discriminatory | racial justice |
| discussion of federal policies | racially |
| disparity | racism |
| diverse | runoff |
| diverse backgrounds | rural water |
| diverse communities | safe drinking water |
| diverse community | science-based |
| diverse group | sediment remediation |
| diverse groups | segregation |
| diversified | self-assessed |
| diversify | sense of belonging |
| diversifying | sex |
| diversity | sexual preferences |
| diversity and inclusion | sexuality |
| diversity/equity efforts | social justice |
| social vulnerability | |
| EEJ | socio cultural |
| EJ | sociocultural |
| entitlement | socio economic |
| equality | socioeconomic status |
| equitable | soil pollution |
| equitableness | solar energy |
| equity | solar power |
| elderly | special populations |
| electric vehicle | stem cell or fetal tissue research |
| energy conversion | stereotype |
| enhance the diversity | stereotypes |
| enhancing diversity | subsidized housing |
| environmental justice | sustainable construction |
| environmental quality | systemic |
| equal opportunity | they/them |
| equality | tile drainage |
| equitable | topics of federal investigations |
| equitableness | topics that have received recent attention from Congress |
| equity | topics that have received widespread or critical media attention |
| ethanol | trans |
| ethnicity | transgender |
| evidence-based | transitional housing |
| excluded | transexual |
| exclusion | trauma |
| expression | traumatic |
| female | tribal |
| females | two-spirit |
| feminism | unconscious bias |
| fetus | under appreciated |
| field drainage | underprivileged |
| fluoride | under represented |
| fostering inclusivity | underrepresentation |
| fuel cell | underrepresented |
| GBV | underserved |
| gay | under served |
| gender | understudied |
| gender based | undervalued |
| gender based violence | vaccines |
| gender diversity | victim |
| gender identity | victims |
| gender ideology | vulnerable |
| gender-affirming care | vulnerable populations |
| gendered | water collection |
| genders | water conservation |
| geothermal | water distribution |
| GHG emission | water efficiency |
| GHG monitoring | water management |
| GHG modeling | water pollution |
| global warming | water storage |
| green | |
| green infrastructure | water treatment |
| greenhouse gas emission | water quality |
| groundwater pollution | wind power |
| Gulf of Mexico | woman |
| H5N1/bird flu | women |
| hate | women and underrepresented |
| hate speech | |
| health disparity | |
| health equity | |
| hispanic | |
| hispanic minority | |
| historically | |
| housing affordability | |
| housing efficiency | |
| hydrogen vehicle | |
| identity |
