US President Donald Trump will issue a series of executive orders on Monday targeting diversity programs and gender identity policies, moving swiftly to fulfill divisive campaign promises to end “woke” culture.
During the campaign, Trump criticized diversity, equality, and inclusion policies in the federal government and the corporate world, saying they discriminate against white people – particularly men.
He denigrated any recognition of gender diversity, attacking transgender people – particularly transgender women – in sports and gender-affirming child care.
An incoming White House official told reporters before the presidential inauguration that Trump would order the U.S. government to recognize only two biological sexes, as well as end federal diversity programs.
The policies will almost certainly face legal challenges.
In practice, official documents will be forced to “accurately reflect gender” going forward, the official said, without specifying whether that means gender assigned at birth.
“The federal government will no longer promote gender ideology,” the official said.
The government will recognize only two genders – male and female – thereby eliminating official policies that recognize a third gender, for example represented by an “X” on US passports.
“What we are doing today is defining that it is the policy of the United States to recognize two genders: male and female,” the official said.
The official did not specify any clear policy on gender change – but suggested that the sex assigned at birth cannot be changed.
“These are genders that are not changeable, and they are based on fundamental and undeniable reality,” she said.
The government would also immediately halt programs that seek to address historical inequality, but which Trump has emphasized harms white people, especially men.
“The Department of Finance – this was quite some time ago – included diversity training that said all white people, no matter how conscious they are, contribute to racism. So this type of funding, we end up with these We’re going to end this (diversity) program,” the official said.
He said the incoming administration would take steps to “eliminate all discriminatory programs,” while also looking for civil service roles tied to promoting diversity, equity and inclusion that the Biden administration would seek to protect from the Trump axe. Was renamed by.
“This includes environmental justice programs, equity-related grants, equity action plans, equity initiatives, those types of things,” the Trump official said.
fear of transgender
Before the election, Trump “asked Congress to pass a bill establishing that the only genders recognized by the U.S. government are male and female, and that they are assigned at birth,” his political program said. Is.
He also promised to ban gender-affirming care for minors and take legal action against any doctors and teachers who perform or enable the practice.
Many in the gay community were concerned by Trump’s election after a campaign in which the Republican’s attacks on trans people and their rights were front and center.
The LGBT National Support Center has been receiving about 2,000 calls per day since the election results, instead of the usual 300, according to its director Aaron Almanza.
Anti-trans rhetoric was a mainstay of Trump’s campaign rallies, with crowds fired up by the Republican’s false claims that children were being forced to undergo gender reassignment, among other claims.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
