Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson poses for a photo in the Gold Room at the Capitol in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)
Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson, a Republican, issued a call to President Donald Trump and his administration late Thursday night: “please bring back our history.”
Linking a story by the outlet Task and Purpose, which describes its mission as being one of the most trusted sources for military news, Henderson posted a lengthy thread on X urging Trump’s administration to restore links to notable graves for Black, Hispanic and women military members and other notable Americans that had been scrubbed from Arlington National Cemetery’s website as part of anti-DEI efforts.
“We don’t celebrate these women because they are women,” Henderson posted. “We celebrate them because of who they were, what they did, what they overcame, and what they mean to us. We see ourselves in them. They shouldn’t be deleted simply because they are women.”
A spokesperson for Arlington National Cemetery confirmed to Task and Purpose that the links to dozens of “notable graves,” walking tours and other education material related to women, Black and Hispanic service members had been “unpublished” from public view, while about a dozen other lists stayed on the website, “including pages for politicians, athletes and even foreign nationals” remained, the outlet reported.
That spokesperson told Task and Purpose the material would be republished after it is “reviewed and updated,” though they did not provide a schedule for when that might happen.
“The Army has taken immediate steps to comply with all executive orders related to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) personnel, programs, and policies,” the spokesperson told Task & Purpose. “The Army will continue to review its personnel, policies, and programs to ensure it remains in compliance with law and presidential orders. Social media and web pages were removed, archived, or changed to avoid noncompliance with executive orders.”
Henderson made her appeal directly to Trump, tagging him in her post, while telling the story of a Utahn, Seraph Young, who was the first woman in America to vote under an equal suffrage law. She was buried at Arlington.
Young’s name had been misspelled on her headstone for more than eight decades, but in 2020 Henderson pointed out Trump ordered that a new headstone be made for her.
“You invited me to speak in a ceremony at her graveside,” Henderson said. “The state of Utah was promised that her name would be listed among notable women, her story told.”
Young’s story is “such an integral part of our state’s history,” Henderson added, that a mural of her casting her first vote in 1870 hangs above the heads of lawmakers in the House chamber at the Utah Capitol to this day.
Mr. President, this is women’s history month. Give us back our history. Let us rejoice in and be inspired by the successes and failures, hopes and dreams, fears and acts of courage of our foremothers. They have been forgotten for too long. pic.twitter.com/UjTfGCQjFc
— Deidre Henderson (@DeidreHenderson) March 14, 2025
“And she is now one of the many women who have been deleted with a click of a mouse,” Henderson wrote. “Mr. President. This is not the way. Give us back our history.”
Henderson also included a photo of herself placing yellow flowers at Young’s grave, telling Trump “this is women’s history month.”
“Give us back our history. Let us rejoice in and be inspired by the successes and failures, hopes and dreams, fears and acts of courage of our foremothers,” she wrote. “They have been forgotten for too long.”
Henderson’s call comes months after she visited Washington, D.C. to celebrate the unveiling of Utah’s statue of Martha Hughes Cannon as it was installed in its final place at the National Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol after years of effort. Cannon was the first woman in the nation to be elected to a state Senate.
Utah’s statue of Martha Hughes Cannon, first woman state senator, finally unveiled in D.C.
Last year, while her boss and running mate, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, changed his stance and announced he would vote for Trump, Henderson has continued to resist him. The Salt Lake Tribune first reported last fall that she would not be endorsing him — or then-Vice President Kamala Harris — ahead of the November election. Early in the GOP primary race Henderson had backed Nikki Haley, former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador.
“I never want to conflate a person’s character with who they support politically, but I will say that I have a real struggle with people who do know better and should know better at the top of Republican politics, who are sowing doubt and chaos and confusion for political gain — no matter who it is,” Henderson told the Tribune at the time. “And yeah, it’s been starting at the top, but it’s also trickling down through the ranks, and anybody who participates in that is not doing their country any service.”
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