The U.S. Army Women’s Museum has covered a storyboard honoring the history of transgender soldiers in the wake of President Donald Trump’s anti-DEI push.
The display is the only one of its kind in a system of 30 Army museums and discusses the history of transgender soldiers in the military branch.
On Tuesday, it was shielded from public view using brown paper, which was later changed out for a layer of black plastic, a spokesperson for the museum told The Independent. The order came from the Center of Military History to ensure the museum’s contents complied with the president’s executive order on diversity, equity and inclusion.
Officials at the museum in Fort Gregg-Adams, Virginia are waiting for guidance as to whether the section of the storyboard can be shown or needs to be removed indefinitely. The Independent emailed the Center of Military History for additional information.
Earlier in the week, pictures circulating on social media showed the National Cryptologic Museum had also concealed plaques celebrating women and people of color who had served the National Security Agency in response to the order.
The Army museum’s display features a photo of Army Captain Jennifer Peace, one of the first openly trans Army officers, on top of the written history of transgender service members. Peace is one of roughly 15,000 transgender soldiers currently serving in the military.
A memo issued in July 2016 by former Secretary of the Army Eric Fanning declared transgender soldiers could serve in the military branch.
“The Army is open to all who can meet the standards for military service and readiness and remains committed to treating all soldiers with dignity and respect while ensuring good order and discipline,” the storyboard relays, quoting the memo, which also established a Transgender Service Implementation Group to develop policies and procedures for transgender service.
Army officials would go on to delay the integration of trans soldiers by six months to determine whether authorizing them to serve would “affect the readiness and lethality” of the force, the storyboard notes.
“The uncertainty over Army transgender policy illustrates the interconnectedness of society and the Army as both move towards a more inclusive future,” the display concludes.
Museum employees obscured the section the same week they were directed to temporarily take the institution’s website offline.
It was one of thousands of federal government pages pulled following the president’s executive order titled: “Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing.” Many of the impacted pages mentioned “transgender” and “inclusion.”
Agencies and departments were further instructed to “take down all outward facing media (website, social media accounts, etc) that inculcate or promote gender ideology.”
By Friday, the Army’s museum website was back up but lacked a section on its Gender Integration Project Initiative discussing the installation of women in key military positions. Web archives show there had previously been a photo of a soldier next to a banner reading: “Trust transcends gender.”
The censorship follows another executive order Trump signed shortly after taking office barring transgender people from enlisting and serving openly in the military.
Six active duty transgender soldiers and a transgender person seeking to enlist sued the Trump administration in response.
Speaking out in reaction to the executive order, one plaintiff, Commander Emily Shilling, a naval aviator and test pilot who has served for 19 years, said: “The assertion that transgender service members like myself are inherently untrustworthy or lack honor is an insult to all who have dedicated their lives to defending this country.
“This ban is not about readiness or cohesion, and it is certainly not about merit. It is about exclusion and betrayal, purposely targeting those of us who volunteered to serve, simply for having the courage and integrity to live our truth.”
