Trump decrees 2 genders; ends ‘immoral’ DEI plans
NEW YORK—US President Donald Trump repealed numerous executive orders promoting LGBTQ equality and issued new ones decreeing only two genders and ending government diversity programs on Monday, definitively breaking with what he decries as “woke” culture.
On the campaign trail, Trump criticized diversity, equity and inclusion policies in the federal government and corporate world, saying they discriminated against white people—men in particular.
“The Biden Administration forced illegal and immoral discrimination programs, going by the name ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ (DEI), into virtually all aspects of the Federal Government, in areas ranging from airline safety to the military,” said one new order ending such programs.
While campaigning, Trump also demonized any recognition of gender diversity, attacking transgender people—notably transgender women in sports, which pitted biological men with biological women—and gender-affirming care for children, which opponents say is child abuse.
In front of a crowd of supporters in a Washington arena, Trump wiped out 78 executive orders, actions and presidential memoranda issued by his predecessor Joe Biden.
In doing so, Trump fulfilled a campaign promise to immediately curtail programs that sought to redress historical inequality but that he has insisted disadvantage white people, particularly men.
He later issued a separate executive order requiring federal agencies to only give the option of male or female, removing the option for any other gender identity—such as “X” on passport applications.
‘Clear, accurate language’
His administration would only use “clear and accurate language and policies that recognize women are biologically female, and men are biologically male,” the order said.
The policies will almost certainly face legal challenges.
Outside the historic Stonewall Inn in New York City, a focal point of the struggle for LGBTQ rights, members of the community were defiant.
“These announcements and these policy changes really affect people in a deep level,” Angel Bullard, a 22-year-old transgender student from Wyoming, told AFP.
“It’s a horrible place to be when you are unaffirmed and alone in this world.”
As a result of the flurry of changes, access to gender affirming medical care could be at risk where federal funds are involved, warned Jami Taylor, a politics professor at Toledo University and an expert on LGBTQ policy.
That could apply in cases funded by state-run insurances Medicare and Medicaid, used by older and less well-off Americans, or in federal prisons.
Ahead of the election, Trump promised to ban gender-affirming care for minors and to take legal action against any doctors and educators who carry out or enable the practice.
