Trump to sign orders ending diversity programs, says gender can’t be changed Reuters

By Bianca Flowers and Gram Slattery

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump will immediately issue executive orders slashing diversity, equity and inclusion programs and proclaim that the U.S. government recognizes only two genders – male and female – that cannot be changed, an incoming House official said. Bianca said on Monday.

The official, who was speaking just hours before Trump was sworn in as the 47th president, added that further actions on DEI programs were expected “very soon.”

“This week, I will also end the government’s policy of attempting to socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life,” Trump said in his inaugural address.

“We will create a society that is colorful and based on merit … From today, from now on it will be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two sexes, male and female,” said Trump.

The Trump administration plans to review and potentially end what the official described as “discriminatory programs,” including environmental justice grants and diversity training initiatives. Full details were not immediately revealed on the steps expected to cancel the order or when they would be announced.

The impending DEI rollback and Trump’s inauguration coincide with the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. This year’s day commemorates the civil rights leader.

Civil and human rights advocates and groups immediately vowed to protect minorities and challenge Trump’s agenda.

“We refuse to back down or be intimidated. We are not going anywhere, and we will fight against these harmful devices with everything we have,” Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, the world’s largest advocacy group. LGBTQ+ rights around the world. the United States, he said in a statement.

Rights advocates have said that any rollback of LGBT and transgender rights implemented by Trump would be a blow to tough efforts to ensure equitable policies and undermine the progress made to address systemic biases that have deprived equal opportunities for marginalized groups for decades.

“We will continue our relentless efforts to protect the rights of immigrants, fight voter suppression, and confront hate and discrimination in all its forms,” ​​Asian Americans Advancing Justice said in a statement.

Many corporations have distanced themselves from DEI measures, with some DEI initiatives and programs being canceled in recent weeks. Meanwhile, companies like Costco (NASDAQ: ) and Apple (NASDAQ: ) have been determined to maintain their commitment to DEI.

As part of the executive orders, federal funds will not be used to promote “gender ideology,” the official said, a broad term often used by conservative groups to refer to any ideology that promotes non-traditional views on the sex and gender. Rights and advocacy groups see the term as an anti-LGBTQ and dehumanizing trope.

The Trump administration recognizes only two sexes, male and female, which were immutable, and would instruct federal employers to use the term sex and not gender, which can refer to gender norms and identity, the incoming official of the White House said in a background briefing. .

The US funding will also not be used in medical gender transition procedures, the official said without providing details.

Federal policy on transgender health care is largely affected by Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, which prohibits discrimination in health care based on sex.

In his first term, Trump issued regulations to weaken that section, which was strengthened again under President Joe Biden.

The Trump administration also plans to limit the scope of a major victory for transgender rights under the 2020 US Supreme Court ruling in Bostock v Clayton County, in which the high court found that civil rights protections against discrimination “on the basis of sex” applied to sexuality and gender identity.

The attorney general will provide explicit guidance on how to apply Bostock, the official said.

Transgender rights have become a contentious political issue in recent years. During the November election season, many Republicans campaigned to repeal transgender laws with a particular focus on transgender women participating in sports.

During a pre-inauguration rally on Sunday, Donald Trump said he would take action to “keep all the men out of women’s sports.”

It was not immediately clear what the executive order will mean for the US military. During his first term, Trump announced that he would ban transgender troops from serving in the military, and his administration froze the recruitment of transgender personnel. Biden reversed that decision when he took office in 2021.

Brian Kalt, a professor of constitutional law at Michigan State University, said that while presidents have executive authority, some actions that Trump has promised to enact, such as ending citizenship rights birth, “face an uphill battle in court.”