The U.S. government will only recognize male and female sexes, according to executive orders signed by President Donald Trump on Monday. These orders also terminate “radical and wasteful” diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives within federal agencies.
Senior White House officials described both directives in a phone conversation Monday morning prior to Trump’s inauguration, classifying them as part of the administration’s larger plan to restore sanity.
The gender order claims that it will “defend women s rights and protect freedom of conscience by using clear and accurate language and policies that recognize women are biologically female, and men are biologically male.”
It instructs the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security to mandate that government-issued identification documents, such as passports, visas, and Global Entry cards, appropriately reflect the holder’s sex and mandates that the federal government use the term “sex” rather than “gender.”
In order to allow men to self-identify as women and have access to private, single-sex areas and activities that are intended for women, such as women’s domestic abuse shelters and women’s workplace showers, ideologues who reject the biological reality of sex have increasingly employed legal and other socially coercive tactics across the nation. The order says, “This is incorrect.” “Efforts to eradicate the biological reality of sex fundamentally attack women by depriving them of their dignity, safety, and well-being.”
“The erasure of sex in language and policy has a corrosive impact not just on women but on the validity of the entire American system,” continues to happen. “Basing Federal policy on truth is critical to scientific inquiry, public safety, morale, and trust in government itself.”
The Biden administration permitted U.S. citizens to use the gender-neutral “X” as a passport marking in 2022. Instructions for altering passport gender markings were no longer available on the State Department website on Tuesday; instead, users were redirected to a page on general U.S. passports.
In order to guarantee that single-sex facilities, including prisons and rape shelters, are identified by sex rather than gender identity, the gender order also forbids the use of public funds for gender-transition health treatment and requires privacy in private areas.
Last but not least, it instructs federal agencies to withdraw any guidance materials that are in conflict with the gender order, such as “Confronting Anti-LGBTQI+ Harassment in Schools: A Resource for Students and Families,” “White House Toolkit on Transgender Equality,” and “Supporting Transgender Youth in School.”
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Trump ran on a platform of weakening rights for transgender and nonbinary individuals. He also highlighted the issue in television commercials, one of which was shown often in crucial swing states like Pennsylvania, where he defeated former Vice President Kamala Harris. Kamala represents they/them. The most famous advertisement stated, “President Trump is for you.”
Within 60 days, the second order will terminate what it calls “discriminatory” DEI policies, positions, and offices within the federal government, specifically targeting funding tied to equity and environmental justice initiatives.
In order to “hear reports on the prevalence and the economic and social costs of DEI,” the directive says the incoming administration will meet monthly with the deputy secretaries of important agencies.
A senior White House official stated in a phone call prior to the signing of the DEI order that it was appropriate for it to be signed on Martin Luther King Jr. Day because the order “is meant to return to the promise and the hope, captured by civil rights champions, that one day all Americans can be treated on the basis of their character, not by the color of their skin.”
Conservatives, including Trump, have attacked DEI programs nationwide in recent years, calling them discriminatory.
In his inauguration address on Monday, Trump mentioned the directives, stating that his government would oppose attempts to “socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life.” He went on to say that his government would “create a merit-based, colorblind society.”
DEI proponents in American society have maintained that such programs are necessary to increase the racial and social inclusivity of businesses, educational institutions, governmental organizations, and other establishments.
Big businesses including Walmart, McDonald’s, and Meta have declared they are discontinuing some or all of their diversity initiatives in the weeks preceding Trump’s reelection.
There are concerns regarding the specific DEI projects that may be discontinued, according to Jin Hee Lee, director of strategic initiatives for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. She stated that the organization is prepared to take whatever necessary steps to stop prejudice, including filing a legal challenge to the order.
According to Lee, a move to outlaw anything pertaining to initiatives to combat inequality would be a major blow to the progress of racial justice.
“Any incoming president can set the policies for the federal administration,” she continued, “but it would be unsettling if it became acceptable for the government or employers to discriminate on the basis of sex or race.”
LGBTQ legal advocates react
According to Jennifer C. Pizer, chief legal officer of Lambda Legal, a civil rights group that represents LGBTQ Americans in court, she anticipates that the administration will be sued by her group and others for the executive orders.
“The president can’t, with a wave of a pen, change the reality of who people are and the fact that we as a community of people exist,” Pizer stated. “We have equal protection rights, just like anybody else does.”
Trump’s executive order on gender identity will undoubtedly be challenged in court, according to another attorney and LGBTQ legal expert, but the administration can nonetheless carry out the directive and, in certain situations, make modifications right away.
The expert, who wished to remain anonymous in order to discuss the executive order openly, pointed out that rape shelters, jails, and migrant shelters might start relocating transgender individuals right away to areas that correspond with their birth sexes rather than their gender identities. This implies that trans women incarcerated in women’s prisons, for instance, could be transferred to male prisons very quickly.
The attorney added that transgender Americans should be careful when they leave the country since they may face difficulties reentering the country and might be detained by border officials. This is especially true for those who have X as their gender marker on government documents like passports.
A person may be held in Customs and Border Protection custody “until they can work with the Department of State to get an alternate ID issued,” according to the attorney, if a Customs and Border agent is unable to input the individual’s X gender marker into the system to permit them to return to the United States.
However, because agencies must go through a process that takes months or even years to change the rules governing them, some changes, like how the Department of Housing and Urban Development protects trans tenants from being evicted by landlords or how agencies handle health care for transgender Americans, may take longer to implement.
The legal expert stated that in certain instances, it will require time for the agencies to publish a final rule after issuing Notices of Proposed Rulemaking, reviewing the comments, as required by law, and correcting any inadequacies.
Courts may issue injunctions to prevent the order’s implementation after the anticipated legal challenges order is filed. However, if challenges proceed through the courts, including to the Supreme Court, which might support the Trump administration, judges may potentially choose to permit the order to be put into effect.