Federal Employees Are Trying To Find Ways Around New Order Requiring Them To Remove Pronouns From Email Signature

What are they/them going to do now? President Donald Trump has been making some big changes since taking office last week. Of course whether you agree with those changes or not likely depends on whether you voted for him or not, but like it or not, he's gotten to work implementing his agenda and keeping his promise to shake things up in our federal government. One of his first major targets has been ending diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs in the government, issuing an executive order on day one taking aim at what the order describes as "illegal and immoral discrimination programs." And another executive order signed on his first day back in the White House took aim at gender ideology, affirming that it's the policy of the government that there are only two sexes: Male and female. I mean, sounds reasonable, right? Sure, there a ton of other gender ideologies out there these days, people identifying as "trisexual" or "non-binary" and claiming that they don't fit into either biological sex, but at the end of the day, biologically you're either a male or female regardless of what you feel like. (And I'm sure there are people who are going to come at me about how "sex" is different than "gender," so let me state for the record: Don't care). Anyway, earlier this week the Office of Personnel Management, which oversees all federal employees, issued a memo to the heads of each department and agency of the federal government ordering them to take several actions to comply with this executive order by the end of the day today, including reviewing email systems and turning off features that prompt users for their pronouns. Pronouns in email signatures is something that's really only been a thing for a few years now, but I'm sure everybody's gotten emails from somebody who had their pronouns in their signature. Yeah, thanks Richard, I figured you were a he/him but I'm glad you clarified. But anyway, what shouldn't really be a big deal has turned into a total meltdown for some federal employees, who are quickly trying to find a way around the rule that seems to require them to remove their pronouns from their signatures. In a thread over on the subreddit r/fednews, which is a message board for federal government employees, users are sharing their plans for circumventing the guidance and continuing to use their pronouns - while some are just vowing not to comply: "If they tell me to remove them from my signature, I will type them in the body of the email until they tell me to stop. At which point I will cease using all gendered pronouns in any emails." "I walk around with a rainbow lanyard saying "Serving all those who served" and a card hangs from that lanyard with my pronouns on it. I'll flaunt that twice as hard if they make that push, and I'll be glad to file some complaints if anyone has a problem with it."

"I specifically added mine in the last week as a way to tell them to shove it. I knew this was coming."

"My malicious compliance will be to include Ms. in front of my name." "So I think we should all start including our titles in our email blocks. If you identify as male then make sure you include a Mr. in front of your name. For those who go by they them I don’t really have any particular suggestions, but let’s brainstorm?" Of course as some pointed out, there are situations where it can be helpful to have a way to identify the sex of somebody you're emailing with. I've had email conversations with people I've never met in person who had foreign or gender-neutral names, and until they give some indication (or more often than not I look them up on LinkedIn), sometimes it's hard to tell whether somebody is a man or a woman by their name. But I have a feeling this isn't the main reason these employees want their "preferred pronouns" in their email signatures. These days it's a way to virtue signal that you're an "ally" to the LGBT community (and for federal employees, signal that you don't support President Trump). Either way, it shouldn't be a big deal, but it seems federal employees are trying to find a way to make a subtle (or not so subtle) political statement with...their email signatures.