FBI staff instructed not to celebrate Pride in any official capacity, according to leaked email

Staff at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have reportedly been told they cannot celebrate Pride on the bureau’s time and only attend LGBTQ+ events in a “personal capacity”.

In an email seen by Fox News, the FBI’s assistant director for public affairs Ben Williamson told staff he had received “several questions about the FBI’s stance on Pride Month and what related activities FBI divisions and employees should or should not participate in”.

“So, I want to take the opportunity to make FBI leadership’s expectations clear: There should be no official FBI actions, events, or messaging regarding Pride Month,” Williamson clarified.

In the email, Williamson went on to set out that staff are “free to do as you like” in their “personal capacity” and “on your own time”.

“But on FBI time,” he continued, “using FBI resources and your Bureau affiliation, you and your divisions are expected to take no official actions or issue any specific messaging”.

He added this “stance in no way lessens the FBI’s commitment to serve and protect every American in our country or welcoming colleagues from all walks of life.”

“What it does mean is ensuring that the American people see we are focused only on our core mission.”

The decision by the FBI – which celebrated Pride Month under previous POTUS Joe Biden as a means of bridging gaps with the LGBTQ+ community – comes after Trump signed an executive order in January culling diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies from the federal government and military.

On his first day in office, the Republican leader ended the use of DEI hiring and federal contracting, with DEI employees forced to take administrative leave and federal agencies ordered to cancel any equality-related training and take down all “outward-facing media” from DEI offices. 

In a statement released by the White House on 20 January, Trump said his administration would “freeze bureaucrat hiring except in essential areas, to end the onslaught of useless and overpaid DEI activists buried into the federal workforce (and) pause burdensome and radical regulations not yet in effect that [president] Biden announced.” 

Prior to such orders, the FBI took part in various Pride events, including WeHo Pride in June 2024 and San Francisco Pride in June 2023.

A press release issued by the FBI in 2023 also outlined how its field office in Kansas City, Missouri took part in a local Pride event with the aim of “encouraging people to report hate crimes and showing members of the LGBTQIA+ community they have the full support of the Bureau”.

“We’re proud of the continued working relationship we have in Kansas City with our LGBTQIA+ partners,” Jeanette Milazzo, assistant special agent in charge of FBI Kansas City’s Criminal Branch said at the time.

“Through this relationship, we’re able to communicate openly with each other—sharing concerns and identifying ways we can work together to make our community safer for all.”

Attacks on DEI policies in government and private businesses are nothing new, partly due to campaigning by right-wing pundit Robby Starbuck, which has lead huge brands, including Walmart, Ford, Lowe’s, Harley-Davidson and Jack Daniels, to scrap their DEI programmes over fears of a right-wing boycott.

Such focused attacks have been emboldened by Trump’s so-called ‘war on woke’, which has seen his administration hyperfocus on the rights and liberties of the trans and wider LGBTQ+ community.

Since returning to the White House for his second term, the US president has invoked a litany of anti-trans policies including proclaiming that the official policy of the US is that there are “only two sexes”, banning transgender people from serving in the military, barring trans women from female sport and restricting gender-affirming healthcare for trans youngsters under the age 19.