© 2026 WGCU News
PBS and NPR for Southwest Florida
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

NASA instructs employees to remove pronouns from all work communications

NASA has instructed employees, contractors and grantees to remove all pronouns from their signatures.
Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
/
Anadolu
NASA has instructed employees, contractors and grantees to remove all pronouns from their signatures.

NASA employees are being required to strip all pronouns from emails and other applications, according to an all-staff email seen by NPR.

The unsigned email came in response to several executive orders, including one called "Defending women from gender ideology and extremism and restoring biological truth to the federal government." The order was signed by President Trump on the day he entered office, and among other things, calls on agencies to "end the Federal funding of gender ideology."

"In response to the Executive Orders, NASA has disabled features in id.nasa.gov and Teams that allows users to add pronouns in their display name in Microsoft Outlook and Teams," the email reads. "For users who have previously added pronouns to their display name, those pronouns will be automatically removed from the system this week."

"In addition," the email says, "NASA has adopted a uniform signature block for emails that are sent using any nasa.gov email address. All users (civil servants, contractors, and grantees) must modify their signature block to follow the appropriate signature block… the signature block should not include additional embellishment."

The step to remove pronouns is the latest by the space agency to comply with the White House's desire to restrict certain kinds of content within government systems. The outlet 404 media, an independent journalist-founded media website, has reported that NASA employees were required to "drop everything" and remove a list of words from public facing websites including "Indigenous people" and "Anything specifically targeting women (women in leadership, etc.)."

And NASA's acting administrator had previously announced that the agency was ending all DEI programs because they "divided Americans by race, wasted taxpayer dollars, and resulted in shameful discrimination."

NASA's press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Copyright 2025 NPR

Geoff Brumfiel works as a senior editor and correspondent on NPR's science desk. His editing duties include science and space, while his reporting focuses on the intersection of science and national security.
Trusted by over 30,000 local subscribers

Local News, Right Sized for Your Morning

Quick briefs when you are busy, deeper explainers when it matters, delivered early morning and curated by WGCU editors.

  • Environment
  • Local politics
  • Health
  • And more

Free and local. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.

More from WGCU
  • White Ibises are common birds of Florida wetlands that increase in numbers with arrival of migrants from more northern areas. While they normally feed in shallow water, they have also become birds of grassy areas such as our yards, parks, and highway and canal rights-of-way. Adults have white plumage with only the tips of outer primaries black -- a characteristic that reduces wear of those feathers. Sex of adults is often easy to distinguish when the birds are in a group. Males are larger with a longer, straighter (but still curved) bill.Females are smaller with a shorter, often more-curved bill. Young White Ibises always have white on their underparts, but recent fledglings can be almost all gray-brown. Over their first year the more-gray plumage is replaced by brown and then gradually changes to the white of an adult. Through much of the year the legs, bill, and face of a White Ibis is flesh-colored or pink, but as nesting approaches the bill, face, and legs become vibrant red. Both sexes have beautiful light blue eyes.
  • Four outdoor art festivals dot the Southwest Florida landscape this weekend: ArtFest Fort Myers, Bonita Springs National Art Festival, the Pine Island Art Association Annual Art Show and the 38th Annual Downtown Sarasota Festival of the Arts.
  • National Wear Red Day 2026 was celebrated on Friday via the Go Red for Women Campaign shining a light on heart disease, the leading killer of women. The Southwest Florida Go Red for Women effort took center stage at the Ritz-Carlton Naples, Tiburon Thursday.