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That’s quite the mouthful.
Recently revealed training videos from Project 2025, obtained and published by ProPublica, shed light on a comprehensive effort to overhaul federal policies concerning inclusivity and LGBTQ+ rights. Project 2025, a more than 900-page Republican strategy document, aims to institutionalize Trumpism within the federal government by dismantling diversity programs, placing Trump loyalists in critical positions, and rejecting progressive ideologies.
Related: What is Project 2025 and what does it mean for LGBTQ+ Americans?
According to ProPublica, the videos are part of Project 2025’s Presidential Administration Academy, a training initiative designed to prepare conservative appointees to implement the plan’s objectives. The videos, provided by an insider, feature presentations from 36 speakers, most of whom held roles in the Trump administration. The content reflects a strategy to replace nonpartisan civil servants with conservative loyalists and undo what the project’s creators view as entrenched left-wing policies.
In one of the videos, former Trump officials Bethany Kozma and Katie Sullivan focus on reshaping federal policies around gender and inclusive language. Sullivan begins by mocking inclusive terminology, saying, “Hi, I’m Katie Sullivan and just a normal American woman, but to the left that makes me a cisgendered, ethno-imperialist birthing person with pronouns she/her” She adds that these words “are quite a mouthful, and it’s one America needs to spit out before we choke on it.”
Kozma and Sullivan specifically target terms and concepts such as gender, sex assigned at birth, and gender-affirming care. They reject the term gender, arguing that it is “completely toxic” and should be replaced with “biological sex” to maintain clarity. Kozma claims, “It’s no longer being used to mean male or female, but now how people identify, which is where we get this idea of gender identity.” She adds, “We should never use the word gender as conservatives.”
The pair also criticize the phrase “sex assigned at birth,” with Kozma describing it as “the left’s attempt to change biological fact and to try to normalize their belief that biological sex can change.” She advises, “If you see the term sex assigned at birth, delete it and replace it with biological sex.”
Sullivan and Kozma are equally dismissive of pronoun use, warning political appointees against adopting practices that respect individuals’ gender identities. Sullivan states, “Don’t use them in email signature blocks, on LinkedIn, and absolutely do not ask people what their pronouns are on your first day on the job.” Kozma adds, “We are not here to discuss pronouns,” emphasizing a refusal to engage with gender-inclusive practices.
The two also belittled social-emotional learning, a framework widely used in education to help students develop self-awareness, self-control, and interpersonal skills. Kozma referred to SEL as “the new buzzword for CRT or critical race theory,” dismissing it as just another tool of the left to infiltrate conservative spaces to “indoctrinate” kids into adopting a more open worldview. Sullivan encouraged political appointees to scrutinize any references to SEL, arguing that such terms are part of a broader effort by the left to change culture through language.
These efforts are part of a broader conservative push to delegitimize LGBTQ+ people and roll back rights through legislative actions across the country. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, more than 527 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been introduced and passed in numerous states, restricting access to gender-affirming care, banning transgender athletes from participating in sports, and limiting discussions of LGBTQ+ issues in schools. These legislative measures, along with Project 2025’s agenda, are part of a coordinated attempt to reshape the cultural landscape by controlling language and definitions and undermining the rights and dignity of LGBTQ+ people.
Related: What is the Heritage Foundation, the group behind the terrifying Republican Project 2025 agenda?
The training videos also take aim at gender-affirming care, with Sullivan and Kozma falsely characterizing it as harmful. Sullivan refers to gender-affirming care as “sterilizing, puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and permanent genital mutilation.”
These claims are not only false but also dangerous. Leading medical organizations, including the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, recognize gender-affirming care as essential and life-saving for transgender and nonbinary patients. Gender-affirming care includes a range of services, from counseling to hormone therapy, all aimed at aligning an individual’s physical characteristics with their gender identity.
Sullivan calls the idea that gender is fluid “evil” and labels it “a major initiative of the Biden administration.”
The Biden-Harris administration has been the most pro-LGBTQ+ in history, supporting policies and legislation that significantly improved the lives of LGBTQ+ people, including President Joe Biden’s signing of the Respect for Marriage Act in December 2022.
Watch one of Project 2025’s alarming training videos obtained by ProPublica below.
- YouTubeyoutu.be
