NASA HQ verbally orders employees to purge workspaces of LGBTQI+ symbols

That crystal charm you have hanging on your office window — the one that disperses sunlight to cast little rainbows across your wall — might have to go if it were found at NASA's headquarters in Washington D.C. In fact, any rainbow paraphernalia brought to the building could get tossed alongside your dangly, sun-catching décor, and it's due to the agency's new push to purge its premises of anything that could represent LGBTQI+ Pride.

NASA employees at the space agency's D.C. headquarters have reportedly been barred from displaying Pride symbols on their person or in their workspaces, according to a NASA Watch report. The news comes as a slew of Executive orders signed by U.S. President Donald Trump continues to force policy changes at NASA and other federal agencies, targeting diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA) initiatives.

In recent weeks, NASA employees across the country received emails announcing an end to the agency's DEIA offices as well as directives to adhere to new guidelines penned by the Trump administration. The new regulation regarding Pride symbols was only communicated verbally, according to the NASA Watch report, and threatened violators with administrative leave. In a joint statement, ranking U.S. House Space and Aeronautics Committee members Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and Valerie Foushee (D-NC) called the move "a ridiculous overstep."

“This is a ridiculous overstep and direct assault on NASA HQ employees' free speech and humanity,” they said, asserting, "this government-sanctioned censorship is the latest assault on the rights of federal employees and should not stand.”

Lofgren and Foushee direct their blame toward President Trump and SpaceX CEO and advisor to the President, Elon Musk, saying the duo's prejudice and homophobia are "rapidly seeping into Washington." Concurrently, NASA websites previously containing any information about diversity, women in STEM and leadership roles, as well as employee resource pages to get involved with organizations, such as NASA’s Rainbow Alliance Advisory Group (RAAG), have all been wiped from the internet.

In a June 7 Instagram post from Cleveland, Ohio's 2024 Pride parade, the official account for NASA Glenn described RAAG as "an employee resource group that supports and advocates for the LGBTQI+ community and helps cultivate an inclusive environment at NASA." This post and the NASA RAAG webpage have both since been deleted.

The changes across the agency are sweeping. They span the array of removing things like lengthy employee profile pieces that highlighted diversity at NASA, to barring the use of employees' preferred pronouns and informing employees the agency could "automatically remove pronouns from everyone's [email] signature," one NASA employee told Space.com.