WH Officials Refuse to Answer Emails With Pronouns in Signature

Some journalists are reporting that Trump administration officials are refusing to engage with reporters who list their pronouns in their signatures, the AP reports. According to an account in the New York Times, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt responded to a reporter's email inquiry with the message: "As a matter of policy, we do not respond to reporters with pronouns in their bios." The paper says two of its journalists and one at a different outlet received similar replies from administration officials. Leavitt later issued statements to other outlets including the Independent and the Washington Post.

"Any reporter who chooses to put their preferred pronouns in their bio clearly does not care about biological reality or truth and therefore cannot be trusted to write an honest story," she said. The Trump administration has gone to war against what President Trump calls "gender ideology," and federal employees have been ordered to remove pronoun references from their email signatures. It's not clear, however, if the administration has instituted a formal policy refusing to engage with reporters who list their pronouns.

"Evading tough questions certainly runs counter to transparent engagement with free and independent press reporting," the Times says in a statement. "But refusing to answer a straightforward request to explain the administration's policies because of the formatting of an email signature is both a concerning and baffling choice." (This content was created with the help of AI. Read our AI policy.)