(NewsNation) — President Trump slashed all diversity, equity and inclusion programs across the federal government, giving agencies 60 days to cut all DEI positions and proclaiming there are only two genders.
In several executive orders signed Monday, Trump undid several Biden-era initiatives, saying they were “illegal and immoral discrimination programs” within the government.
“This week, I will also end the government policy of trying to socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private light; we will forge a society that is color blind and merit-based,” Trump said during his inauguration. “As of today, it will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, male and female.”
Here are all executive orders Trump signed on Day 1
The order asks the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management to coordinate with agencies to terminate what it deems as “all discriminatory programs” in the agencies.
The U.S. government is the largest employer in the country with 3 million workers, and the new marching orders appear to stand in line with a similar shift away from DEI initiatives in the private sector.
Walmart, Meta and McDonalds have all reportedly pulled back on some aspects of DEI.
A Trump official said Monday that “private businesses should wait and see … we have more actions coming very soon.”
Trump has also caused concern among LGBTQ+ Americans after declaring the government would recognize only two sexes, male and female, and those will correlate with the sex assigned at birth.
What is an executive order?
His order directs agencies to enforce laws to protect men and women as biologically distinct sexes and not enforce laws as if sex includes gender identity. It will also direct the secretaries of state and Homeland Security to ensure official government documents such as passports and visas reflect categories of “male” and “female.”
It will also prevent agencies from promoting the concept of gender transition, and agencies will only list “male” or “female” when asking about sex.
The order also intends to stop federal funds from promoting gender identity. The Trump administration also intends to recognize that women are identified as having reproductive cells, as opposed to identifying women through a chromosome.
