President Trump signed a executive Order Declaring that it is the policy of the federal government to recognize only “two sexes, male and female”, the ability of Americans to mark “Other” or “X” on federal forms was reversed and the federal government Had a huge impact on the way gender was accepted by the world.
Mr. Trump has long promised to change the way the federal government handles the issue of gender identity, and on the campaign trail, his lines about barring transgender athletes from participating in women's sports played out at his rally. Inspired the strongest reactions from those who came.
LGBTQ rights groups are promising to challenge Trump's order wherever possible.
“Across the country, ideologues who deny the biological reality of sex have sought to allow men to self-identify as women and gain access to intimate single-sex spaces and activities designed for women by protecting women from domestic abuse.” “This is wrong.”
The order contradicts statements from transgender Americans, who say they are trying to access spaces that align with their gender identity, not “intimate single-sex spaces and activities designed for women.” To gain access to.”
The presidential executive order means that the secretaries of the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Office of Personnel Management will require government-issued identification documents, including visas, passports and Global Entry cards, to “accurately reflect the bearer's gender.” Americans have been able to select an “X” on their passports From April 2022 Under former President Joe Biden.
The Gender Executive Order also states that the federal government is not to use terms such as gender identity, instead using sex assigned at birth.
“Federal funds shall not be used to promote gender ideology,” the order states. “Each agency will assess grant conditions and the priorities of grant recipients and ensure that grant funding does not promote gender ideology.”
According to LGBTQ media advocacy group GLAAD, “Gender ideology is not a term that transgender people use to describe themselves, it is a term used by opponents to belittle and dehumanize transgender and non-binary people. That's the wrong word.”
The order also states that the Attorney General “shall ensure that the Bureau of Prisons revises its policies relating to medical care to be consistent with this order, and shall ensure that no federal approval for any medical procedure, treatment, or drug Money should not be spent on making a prisoner look like the opposite sex.”
Legally speaking, Thomas Berry, director of the Cato Institute's Center for Constitutional Studies, said the executive order is broad, but aspects of it may run afoul of a 2020 Supreme Court decision. In Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia, the Supreme Court ruled by a 6–3 vote that It is illegal for an employer to fire someone for being gay or transgender,
“This is a sweeping executive order,” Berry said of Mr. Trump’s action. “I think he has a right to do something and some parts of it are going to be more controversial. So one thing that immediately strikes me and I'm curious about is to what extent he will respond to pressure against the Supreme Going to try to put the Court's Bostock decision within the last five years, where the Supreme Court clearly held that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 applied to both discrimination based on sexual orientation as well as gender identity and interpretation of which depends on the Supreme Court is, and the Supreme Court has taken a binding decision.”
Berry said the federal government will have more freedom in how it enforces the order internally within the federal government, such as how federal employees can identify.
LGBTQ rights advocates have vowed to fight the Trump administration's changes.
Chase Strangio, co-director of the American Civil Liberties Union's LGBT and HIV Project, said the ACLU is closely studying the impact and implementation of the order. Strangio said Tuesday it was not yet clear whether the changes to State-Department-issued passports, for example, would be retroactive.
“I would anticipate a number of legal actions in the future, but it will all depend on what we actually see from the various agencies charged with enforcing various parts of this executive order,” Strangio said.
Omar Gonzalez-Pagan, senior legal counsel at Lambda Legal, who focuses on LGBT civil rights issues, also called the Supreme Court's decision in Bostock potentially at odds with the order.
“We stand ready to challenge any of these implementation actions,” he said.
At the same time, some conservatives are happy with this order.
“Trump has risen to the challenge and made clear that his administration will protect women and girls and fight the gender ideologues who have enjoyed free reign for the past four years.” wrote Jay Richards, who directs the Heritage Foundation's Center for Life, Religion and Family. “Certainly, what can be done by executive order can be undone in the same way,” Richards said. He expressed hope that Congress would codify the definitions of man and woman.
The “two genders” executive order is one of Over 200 executive actions Mr Trump's actions in his first day in office ranged from attempting to end birthright citizenship to pardoning the January 6 rioters.