By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
In a Facebook entry dated July 3, 2024, the Joint Region Marianas posted photos of its diversity committee giving a presentation about Pride Month at the JRM headquarters.
“This year’s theme is ‘Pride in All Who Serve—A Place for All,’ which celebrates the equality and rights of LGBTQI+ individuals and the Department of Defense’s commitment to diversity and inclusion across the Armed Forces,” reads the Facebook post.
By March 5, this particular JRM post— along with similar feeds— will be scrubbed off the social media platform in compliance with the Pentagon’s memo banning digital content that “promote diversity, equity and inclusion.”
The “digital content refresh” directive issued on Feb. 26 aligned with President Donald Trump's executive orders dismantling the DEI regime, reinforced by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's Jan, 25 memo "Restoring America's Fighting Force."
Military commands on Guam, including the Joint Region Marianas, Andersen Air Force Base, Naval Base Guam and the Joint Task Force Micronesia moved quickly to comply with the memo requiring all services to post a blanket statement on their social media platforms.
Their individual Facebook accounts posted a brief statement, which reads: "Content on this platform is being reviewed and removed to align with the President's executive orders and DoD priorities, in accordance with DoD 5400.17, official use of social media for public affairs purposes.”
The memo signed by Sean Parnell, assistant to the secretary of defense for public affairs, requires all services to “take all practicable steps, consistent with records management requirements, to remove all DoD news and feature articles, photos, and videos that promote diversity, equity and inclusion.”
Digital feeds marked for removal include “information that promotes programs, concepts, or materials about critical race theory, gender ideology and preferential treatment or quotas based upon sex, race or ethnicity, or other DEI-related matters with respect to promotion and selection reform, advisory boards, councils and working groups.”
Also listed as purgable are items that “counter to merit-based or color-blind policies” or “ promote cultural awareness months” as outlined in Hegseth's Jan. 31 memo headlined "Identity Months Dead at DoD."
“All articles, photos, and videos removed from DoD websites and social media platforms must be archived and retained in accordance with applicable records management policies,” the memo added.
If DEI content cannot be removed from social media accounts by March 5, all content published during the Biden administration’s four years in office must be temporarily removed from public display, the memo states.
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