Published on February 17, 2024, 1:47 am

United States Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, recently issued specific language guidelines to employees at the Department of State amid escalating violent conflicts in Europe and the Middle East. The instructions concentrated on eliminating the practice of “misgendering” within departmental communication.

These guidelines were distributed shortly after the United States carried out a missile strike in Iraq and Syria against Iran-backed militants, an action executed to retaliate for the deaths of three American soldiers. Despite these ongoing international crises, Blinken prioritized issuing guidelines outlining which gender-related terms officials should utilize or avoid.

In his February 5th communique, which later became public knowledge, Blinken emphasized that using gendered language—terms like “mother/father,” “son/daughter,” and “husband/wife”—could prove problematic. Such usage could potentially project a harmful message, he warned.

While frontline wars persist in areas including Ukraine and Gaza with concurrent heightening tensions in the South China Sea, Blinken continues his focus on preventing “misgendering” within the body entrusted with managing American foreign policy and diplomatic relations.

Aimed at enhancing understanding surrounding gender identity issues among State Department staff, his memo—”Modeling DEIA: Gender Identity Best Practices”—provides best practices and advice relating to gender identity language aimed at facilitating a more inclusive workplace environment.

It contends that sex and gender are not synonymous – putting forth that the concept of one’s deepest sense of self might be masculine, feminine, neither or both. It advocates employees incorporating their respective pronouns into their email signatures as part of building respect for individual choices regarding personal pronoun usage – but without pressuring anyone to state their pronouns since gender identities could be fluid.

Furthermore, some commonly used phrases such as “manpower”, “you guys”, and even “ladies and gentlemen” are discouraged for being exclusionary; alternates like “labor force,” “folks,” “you all,” and “everyone” are proposed instead. The memo also discourages the phrase “brave men and women on the front lines,” recommending more specific alternatives such as ‘brave first responders,’ ‘brave soldiers,’ or ‘brave DS agents.’

Blinken’s advisory comes as various federal agencies – including the National Security Agency (NSA) and National Science Foundation (NSF) – have become platforms for promoting ideas regarded as extremely left-leaning under Biden’s administration.

The NSA has developed a “DEI Glossary” advocating Critical Race Theory and transgender ideology; it features terms like “white fragility,” “queer theory,” “settler colonialism,” and the pronouns “ze/zir.” Concurrently, the NSF plans to devote about $1 million in public funds to an initiative aimed at ensuring college biology courses propose more than just two genders.

In countering these developments, former President Trump along with supporters within his former administration have contemplated strategies to pare back the influence of bureaucratic entities if he can outdo President Biden in November’s election.