Trump To Sign Orders Defining Sexes, Ending DEI In Agencies
The orders were detailed by an incoming White House official on a call Monday ahead of Trump’s swearing-in ceremony.
(Source: Bloomberg)
President-elect Donald Trump intends to sign an executive order that recognizes two sexes — male and female — and one ending diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in the federal government — taking action on two cultural issues that galvanized his base.
The orders were detailed by an incoming White House official on a call Monday ahead of Trump’s swearing-in ceremony. The president-elect has vowed to take action on a slew of orders on the first day of his second term.
The gender order, titled “Defending Women from Gender Identity Extremism and Restoring Biological Reality to the Federal Government,” was cast by the official as intended to protect women from gender ideology. The effort defines two sexes and would require agencies to give force to the definitions and terms in the order when applying statutes and regulations.
Trump campaigned on rolling back transgender protections, including in women’s sports. His campaign highlighted the issue in particular, spending millions on anti-trans campaign ads and at rallies, where Trump regularly claimed transgender athletes had an unfair advantage over their competitors.
The order seeks to mandate that agencies will use the term sex not gender and would have the secretaries of of State, Homeland Security and others ensure that official documents, including passports and visas, reflect sex accurately, according to the incoming official.
It would also seek to ensure that Americans’ rights to free speech and religious freedom are being protected, according to the official, and that taxpayer funds are not being used for transition healthcare and to protect spaces for women in facilities, including in prisons and rape shelters.
The attorney general would also provide explicit guidance on the order, the official added.
The second order detailed by the incoming official is titled “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferences,” which would end DEI initiatives in the federal government.
Diversity practices have drawn the ire of conservatives, who have cast the measures as discriminatory against white Americans.
