US President Donald Trump will immediately issue executive orders cutting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs and announce that the US government will only recognize two genders – male and female – that cannot be changed, a person said new White House official on Monday.
The official, speaking just hours before the 78-year-old Trump’s second inauguration as president, added that further action on DEI programs was expected “very soon.”
“This week I will also end government policies that attempt to socially integrate race and gender into every aspect of public and private life,” Trump said in his inaugural address as he returned to power after four years out of the Oval Office.
“We will create a society that is colorblind and meritocratic. … Starting today, it will be the official policy of the U.S. government that there are only two genders: man and woman,” Trump said.
The Trump administration plans to review and potentially end programs the official called “discriminatory,” including environmental justice grants and diversity training initiatives. Full details of the planned steps to lift the orders or when they would be announced were not immediately available.
The upcoming DEI rollback and Trump’s inauguration coincide with this year’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday commemorating the late civil rights leader.
Maya Wiley, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, said Trump’s policies are a step backwards.
“Dr. “King had a dream, and this is his nightmare: the setback of the work of our civil and human rights coalition over the last 75 years,” Wiley said in a statement.
Coming challenges
Civil and human rights activists and groups immediately vowed to protect minorities and challenge Trump’s agenda.
“We refuse to give in or be intimidated. We are going nowhere and will fight these harmful regulations with everything we have,” Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBTQ+ rights advocacy group in the U.S., said in a statement.
Human rights advocates have said any cuts to DEI and transgender rights implemented by Trump would represent a setback to hard-fought efforts to craft equitable policies and undermine progress toward eliminating systemic biases that have denied marginalized groups equal opportunities for decades.
“We will continue our tireless efforts to protect the rights of immigrants, combat voter suppression, and combat hate and discrimination in all its forms,” Asian Americans Advancing Justice said in a statement.
Many companies – including Meta, McDonald’s and Walmart – have distanced themselves from DEI measures, and some have scaled back DEI initiatives and programs in recent weeks. Meanwhile, companies like Costco and Apple remain committed to maintaining their commitment to DEI.
New expectations for federal employers
The Trump administration would recognize only two genders, male and female, that are immutable and would direct federal employers to use the term “sex” rather than “gender,” which can refer to gender norms and identity, said the new White House official in a background briefing.
Without elaborating, the U.S. official also said federal funds would not be used for gender-inclusive care.
Federal policy on transgender health care is largely influenced by Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, which prohibits health care discrimination based on sex.
In his first term in office, Trump issued regulations to weaken this section, which was strengthened again under US President Joe Biden.
The Trump administration also planned to limit the scope of a major victory for transgender rights under the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2020 ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County, in which the Supreme Court found that civil rights protections against discrimination “Based on gender” applies to sexuality and gender identity.
The attorney general will provide explicit guidance on the use of Bostock, the official said.
A recurring focus for Republicans
Transgender rights have become a contentious political issue in recent years. During the November election season, many Republicans pushed to repeal transgender laws, with a particular focus on transgender women’s athletic participation. Similar messages were the focus of some ads from Trump’s campaign and support groups, which collectively spent millions of dollars to distribute those ads toward the end of the campaign.
During a pre-inauguration rally on Sunday, Trump said he would take action to “keep all men out of women’s sports.”
It was not immediately clear what the executive orders would mean for the U.S. military. During his first term, Trump announced he would ban transgender troops from serving in the military, and his administration has frozen transgender recruitment. Biden reversed that decision when he took office in 2021.
Brian Kalt, a constitutional law professor at Michigan State University, said that while presidents have executive power, some policies that Trump has promised to implement – such as abolishing primary citizenship – “will face an uphill battle in the courts,” he said .
