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'Bent the knee': Outrage as NASA  scrubs women and Indigenous people off website

Red and blue NASA logo on a metal wall. Photo taken at the Johnson Space Center in Houston Texas. (Photo credit: Jaclyne Ortiz / Shutterstock)

Daniel Hampton
February 05, 2025

As the Trump administration continues its crusade against diversity, equity and inclusion, a new report led to outrage on social media that NASA staff were told to "drop everything" and scrub their website of mentions of DEI, Indigenous people, environmental justice — and women in leadership.

The directive was sent Jan. 22 and obtained by 404 Media.

“Per NASA HQ direction, we are required to scrub mentions of the following terms from our public sites by 5pm ET today. This is a drop everything and reprioritize your day request. Note that the list below is the list that exists this morning, but it may grow as the day goes on.

  • DEIA
  • Diversity (in context of DEIA)
  • Equity (“ “)
  • Inclusion (“ “)
  • Accessibility (“ “)
  • MSI
  • Minority Serving Institution
  • Indigenous People
  • EEJ
  • EJ
  • Environmental Justice
  • Underrepresented groups/people
  • Anything specifically targeting women (women in leadership, etc.)”
A NASA employee who asked to remain anonymous told the site, "We were absolutely required to scrub all DEI related or DEI adjacent topics and terms from all external websites by 5 pm the 22nd, which was a drop everything and get it done task."
The order garnered fierce backlash on social media, including from many women irate that women in leadership roles were to be removed.

"Tell me again how there’s no war on women…" wrote Madeleine Roux‪, author of more than twenty books for teens, adults, and children, as she echoed a popular left-wing criticism of Donald Trump's campaign.

"Just the worst pieces of s---," railed Oliver Willis, reporter at the Daily Kos.

"NASA ordered to Re-Hidden Figures the place. DO NOT COMPLY," pleaded author and podcaster Susan Kaye Quinn on Bluesky.

‪Patricia Kelly Spurles, associate professor at Mount Allison University, replied on Bluesky: "The order was to scrub traces of women and people of colour because they make Musk feel inadequate? Or maybe just to be bullies and throw their weight around. FFS. They want to demonstrate what they can get people to do."

"The Trump purge of women and minorities continues at a startling pace," journalist Jennifer Schulze wrote on Bluesky.

"Petro, the current head of NASA (first woman to hold the role in the admin's history!), could not have bent the knee faster. but in 2021, she went on and on about how it's 'crucial that we are intentional about identifying diverse sources of talent,'" chided journalist Sam Cole, co-founder of 404 Media.

She added: "[N]ow that Trump is back in office, we have NASA HQ sending directives like this to people who surely have better things to do."

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