The Department of Defense is planning to remove content related to the historic aircraft, the Enola Gay, as part of Donald Trump's crackdown on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).
The Defense Department has created a database, obtained by The Associated Press, of more than 26,000 images and posts that have been marked for deletion across all branches of the military. Anonymous U.S. officials told the outlet that the purge could potentially effect over 100,000 pieces of content not just on websites, but social media as well.
The restored Enola Gay, the Boeing B-29 Superfortress airplane used to drop the first atomic bomb in combat 06 August 1945 on Hiroshima, Japan, is seen on display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, the Smithsonian's new addition to the National Air and Space Museum, 25 March, 2006 in Chantilly, Virginia. The building opened in December, 2003, and provides enough space for the Smithsonian to display the thousands of aviation and space artifacts that cannot be exhibited on the National Mall. The two sites together showcase the largest collection of aviation and space artifacts in the world.
KAREN BLEIER/AFP via Getty Images
Several photos were seemingly flagged for removal only because their file included the word ”gay,” including the World War II aircraft, which dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. Photos of an Army Corps of Engineers project are also slated for removal because one of the engineers had the last name "Gay," as well as a photo of Army Corps biologists because it contained data about fish, including their gender.
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The database also marked for removal content about the Tuskegee Airmen, the first Black pilots in the military who were made to serve in a segregated unit; the World War II Women Air Service Pilots; the country’s first women fighter pilot, U.S. Air Force Col. Jeannie Leavitt; and the first three women to graduate from the Marine Corps’ Infantry Training. References to Women's History Month and Black History Month have already been removed.
Restoration of Enola Gay at Paul E Garber facility of Smithsonian, Silver Hill, MD, June 1985.
Ben Martin/Getty Images
Pentagon spokesman John Ullyot told AP: “We are pleased by the rapid compliance across the Department with the directive removing DEI content from all platforms. In the rare cases that content is removed that is out of the clearly outlined scope of the directive, we instruct components accordingly.”
Trump signed executive orders forcing the removal of all references to DEI in the federal government, as well as mandating that the federal government deny the existence of transgender people by recognizing only two sexes — male or female — despite the scientific and medical consensus that sex is a spectrum.
Trump appointed Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense, a Fox News host that has been accused of sexual assault, domestic violence, and alcohol abuse. Hegseth infamously does not believe in germs, and believes that women should not be allowed to serve in combat roles. He's spent the first month in his position attempting to ban transgender people from the military altogether.
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