“I want it to light a fire under people”

NEW YORK (AP) — Billionaire Elon Musk and his cost-cutting team in government efficiency divisions, Karen Ortiz, may just be one of many faceless bureaucrats. But for some of her colleagues, she is making a voice to those who feel she can’t speak out.

Ortiz is the administrative judge of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission – a federal agency responsible for enforcing anti-discrimination laws in the U.S. workplaces, which has experienced turbulent changes since President Donald Trump took office. Like millions of other federal employees, Ortiz posted an ominous email on Jan. 28 titled “Fork in the Fork,” which gave them the option to resign as part of the administration’s cost-cutting measures directed by Trump, and was enforced by multiple officials Musk.

When her supervisor directed an administrative judge in the New York District Office to stop all current LGBTQ+ cases and send them to Washington for further review, her alarm grew in order to comply with Trump’s executive order, announcing that the administration would only recognize two “impossible” genders – men and women.

Ortiz condemned management’s lack of action against the directive, which she said was contrary to the EEOC’s mission and called on about 185 colleagues to “boycott” compliance with “illegal mandate”. But the email was deleted “mysteriously” she said.

The next day, after another frustrating “On the Road” update, Ortiz decided to go big, sending an email to EEOC’s performance chair Andrea Lucas and replicating more than 1,000 colleagues with the subject line, “The spoon is better than the fork.”

“I know I take a lot of personal risk when sending this message. But, at the end of the day, my actions are consistent with what the EEOC is responsible for under the law,” Ortiz wrote. “I will not compromise on my ethics and the responsibility to uphold the law. I will not shrink from bullying and intimidation.”

Ortiz is just one person, but her email represents a fight back against the Trump administration’s radical change in federal agencies in a chaotic, angry and chaotic environment. It’s also how Ortiz opposed the leadership of civil rights institutions, dismissing seven cases representing trans workers last month, marking a significant difference from the law’s previous interpretation of the law.

After sending a massive email, Ortiz said she received some support responses from her colleagues and called her unprofessional. But within an hour, the message disappeared and she lost the ability to send any emails.

But that still makes it online. The email has been recirculated on the blues and has received over 10,000 “upvotes” on Reddit after someone posted the comments after it was posted, “Wow, I wish I had the courage.”

One Reddit user believes Ortiz’s “American Hero” is a view that was seconded by more than 2,000 senior voters. “Who burns this freedom fighter?” another wrote.

EEOC feels different. The agency revoked her email privilege for about a week and issued a written condemnation of the “negative act.”

“We will avoid comments on internal communication and personnel matters,” EEOC spokesman AP said in contact with the Associated Press. “However, we will note that the agency has a long-term policy that prohibits unauthorized full-employee emails and has recently reminded all employees.”

One month later, Ortiz did not regret it.

“It’s not a real plan, it’s just from the heart,” the 53-year-old told the Associated Press in an interview. He added that partisan politics has nothing to do with her objections and that the public deserves protection from the EEOC, including trans workers. “That’s how I feel, I’m not splurged. I’m going to stick to what I write every day of the week, all day on Sunday.”

Ortiz said she never intends to outperform EEOC in emails, describing them as “love letters” to colleagues. But, she added: “I want it to light a fire under people.”

Ortiz said she has received “one ton” support this month since sending the email, including thank you letters from California retirees telling her to “stay faith.” However, public support between EEOC colleagues outside Reddit and Bluesky proved to be elusive.

“I think people are really scared,” she said.

Professor of Public Policy at the University of William Resh, who studies how administrative structures and political environments affect civil servants, weighs why federal workers may choose to say nothing even if they feel their mission is undermined.

“We can talk about pie in the sky, mission positioning and all these other things. But, at the end of the day, people have a paycheck to take home, and food can be placed on the table and rented,” Resh said.

He said the more direct danger is a threat to a person’s livelihood, or anger at the invitation of managers.

“So that’s where you get this silent response on behalf of federal employees, and you don’t see a lot of people talking in these positions because they don’t want to lose their jobs,” Resh said. “Who will?”

Richard Leclear, a U.S. Air Force veteran and an EEOC staff member, retired at the age of 64 to avoid retirement under the Trump administration, said Ortiz’s email was “highlights,” but added that other colleagues who agreed to her might be worried that they would speak up.

“Revenge is a very real thing,” Leclear said.

Ortiz, who has been a federal employee for 14 years and worked at EEOC for six years, said she wasn’t naive about the potential consequences. She hired a lawyer and insisted that her behavior was protected by the whistleblower. As of Friday, she still has a job, but she is not a lifelong appointment and knows her health care, pensions and income sources can all be at risk.

Still, Ortiz is determined: “If they fire me, I will find another way to do this kind of work, and I will be fine. They will have to physically move me forward.”

Ortiz admits that many of Ortiz’s colleagues have children who support and protect them, which puts them in a more difficult position than she is speaking out. Her legal education and U.S. citizenship also gave her the ability to change, she said.

Her parents came to the United States from Puerto Rico in the 1950s with limited English skills, which put her in the value of standing up for others. Their first-hand experience of the civil rights movement, and her own experience growing up in much of the white space in Long Island Garden City, defended Ortiz in defending herself and others.

“It’s in my DNA,” she said. “I’m going to take advantage of all the privileges that I have to rely on.”

Ortiz received his undergraduate degree from Columbia University and his law degree from Fordham University. She knew she wanted to be a judge since her high school mock trial was tried as a Supreme Court justice.

Civil rights have been a thread throughout her career, and Ortiz said she was “very excited” when she found a job at EEOC.

“That’s how I want to finish my career. Let’s see if it will happen,” she said.

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