PEN America is accusing President Trump of gross hypocrisy in his statements on freedom of speech. The campaign body says: “After President Donald Trump’s recent executive order ‘Restoring Freedom of Speech and Ending Federal Censorship’, in which he declared government censorship of speech “intolerable in a free society,” he immediately set about doing just that.
“Subsequent executive orders require federal agencies to remove reference to “gender,” “diversity,” “inclusion,” and “environmental justice” from all federal documents. Staff at the National Science Foundation have reportedly been told to scrutinize projects that use words including “disability,” “women,” “female,” “minority,” “historically,” “underrepresented,” or “socioeconomic.” There is no act of censorship more explicit than literally banning words. These orders will have a clear chilling effect that will range well beyond the halls of government.”
The organisation is urging individuals to write to their member of Congress to make their feelings known.