For the latest issue of National Review, I wrote about how the State Department’s embrace of “equity” principles is reshaping U.S. diplomacy.
Here’s one example of how State is adjusting its public messaging, and internal use of language, in response to White House directives:
In the immediate aftermath of the botched U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, State attracted derision for a tweet celebrating “International Pronouns Day” and citing an article that noted that some transgender persons use “ze/zir/zirs” as pronouns.
More significantly, there’s a policy-oriented element to State’s preoccupation with gender identity. According to internal departmental documents obtained by National Review, similar work proceeded more quietly within the department throughout 2021, as officials embraced the language of progressive activists. In May of that year, in guidance on sensitivity to transgender employees, the department urged officials to “consider a shift in language to avoid making assumptions that can be offensive to transgender and gender nonconforming employees.” Officials were encouraged to use “words like everyone, colleagues, and esteemed guests rather than ladies and gentlemen.”
Some might say that this is small-ball stuff. But when State Department envoys are tasked with representing the U.S. in the world, and when those envoys embrace viewpoints held mainly by progressive activist groups (often because they come from such organizations, as I note), that has an outsized impact on the story that America tells the rest of the world about itself.
In addition, State’s compliance with the Biden administration’s equity agenda has drained department resources and distracted top U.S. officials from their real jobs:
Already, each bureau has had to assign to at least one deputy assistant secretary the responsibility of coordinating the implementation of order 13985; bureaus may also hire officials dedicated to that responsibility. Biden’s budget request for the coming fiscal year includes $2.6 billion for gender-equity work and supporting “underserved communities.”
You can read the rest of the story here.