Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
- Utah Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson is urging President Donald Trump to restore links to notable women buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
- Henderson highlights Utahn Seraph Young Ford's significance in women's voting history.
- The removal of the links comes amid efforts by Trump to purge diversity references.
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson asked President Donald Trump to restore links to the "Women's History" category on Arlington National Cemetery's list of notable graves after they were removed as part of an apparent push to root out diversity initiatives.
Henderson tagged the president in a post on X, after Task and Purpose, a military-focused publication, reported that cemetery officials had scrubbed dozens of pages about gravesites of Black, Hispanic and female service members.
The "Women's History" section includes information about Seraph Young Ford, a Utahn who was the first women in the United States to vote. While the page about prominent women buried in the cemetery is still online, links to it from the cemetery's homepage have been removed.
The scrubbing of materials comes as part of Trump's broader effort to purge references to diversity, equity and inclusion within the federal government.
"Mr. President @realDonaldTrump, please bring back our history," Henderson said in a post. "In 2020, you added a revered Utahn, Seraph Young, the first woman in America to vote under an equal suffrage law, to the list of notable graves on @ArlingtonNatl's website."
The lieutenant governor went on to note that Trump also ordered that the spelling of Ford's name be corrected on her headstone after it was misspelled for 82 years. A mural of Ford casting the first vote on Feb. 14, 1870, adorns the ceiling of Utah's House of Representatives chamber.
Henderson called Ford "an integral part of our state's history" and said she is "one of the many women who have been deleted with a click of a mouse."
1/ Mr. President @realDonaldTrump, please bring back our history. In 2020, you added a revered Utahn, Seraph Young, the first woman in America to vote under an equal suffrage law, to the list of notable graves on @ArlingtonNatl's website. pic.twitter.com/UOLDUl4hX6
— Deidre Henderson (@DeidreHenderson) March 14, 2025
"Give us back our history," she said. "We don't celebrate these women because they are women. 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."
It's not the first time Utah's Republican lieutenant governor — who is the second woman to hold the post — has broken with her party on Trump. Henderson endorsed former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley for president last year alongside Utah first lady Abby Cox. Gov. Spencer Cox was widely seen as a Trump skeptic until he issued a surprise endorsement of the president in July.
