Following a series of executive orders from President Donald Trump, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has directed the Pentagon to undertake a sweeping purge of all references to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). The effort, carried out to an extreme level, has led to significant and disastrous consequences, including tragic choices—and errors—in the removal of historically significant material.
In late January, Secretary Hegseth declared DEI is “dead.”
The Associated Press reports it has obtained a database of “tens of thousands of photos and online posts marked for deletion as the Defense Department works to purge diversity, equity and inclusion content.”
Included in the items to be scrubbed are “a World War II Medal of Honor recipient, the Enola Gay aircraft that dropped an atomic bomb on Japan and the first women to pass Marine infantry training.” Also included: people with the last name of Gay. NCRM found in the database a link to an image of a photo taken by a staff sergeant whose last name is Gay.
The AP notes an official “said it’s not clear if the database has been finalized.”
“Several photos of an Army Corps of Engineers dredging project in California were marked for deletion, apparently because a local engineer in the photo had the last name Gay. And a photo of Army Corps biologists was on the list, seemingly because it mentioned they were recording data about fish — including their weight, size, hatchery and gender,” the AP reported.
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NCRM also found this photo included in AP’s database that it says has been flagged for removal.
It is titled, “Col. Paul Tibbetts, Jr., of Miami, Fla., poses in front of his B-29 Superfortress ‘The Enola Gay’ (named for his mother). The Enola Gay is the same plane he piloted when his bombardier dropped the first atom bomb over Hiroshima, Japan.” As of publication time it is still accessible on the Air Force’s website.
Another now-deleted photo, of the Enola Gay “landing after the atomic bombing mission on Hiroshima, Japan,” has been archived here.
“The vast majority of the Pentagon purge targets women and minorities, including notable milestones made in the military,” the AP reported. “And it also removes a large number of posts that mention various commemorative months — such as those for Black and Hispanic people and women.”
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Although the AP does not specifically mention LGBTQ people and events, included in its partial database of items that have been flagged for deletion is this photo accompanying a June 10, 2014 article, “Minnesota National Guard marks LGBT Pride Month,” both of which were archived by the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine.
Another photo flagged for deletion depicts then-U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel addressing “the audience before introducing Valerie Jarrett, senior advisor to President Barack Obama, at a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Pride Month event at the Pentagon, June 25, 2013.”
Also deleted is a graphic (archived) of what appears to be an announcement for a live-streaming event by DoD Pride, announcing an “LGBT Pride Month” livestream event featuring then-U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. DoD Pride is an “organization which serves LGBTQ+ service members, civilian employees, contractors, and their families within the Department of Defense.”
See the social media post and video above or at this link.
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