U.S. President Donald Trump will immediately issue executive orders that slash diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs and proclaim the U.S. government will only recognize two sexes — male and female — that cannot be changed, an incoming White House official said on Monday.
The official, speaking just hours before Trump, 78, was sworn in as president for the second time, added that more actions on DEI programs were expected “very soon.”
“This week, I will also end the government policy of trying to socially engineer 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 forge a society that is colour-blind and merit-based,” Trump said. “As of today, it will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders: male and female.”
Tanya Neslusan, the executive director of the U.S.-based MassEquality advocacy organization, said that Trump’s inauguration remarks were consistent with the “anti-LGBT … and transphobic rhetoric” of his current and past administration, but nonetheless left many question marks.
“What does that really mean — it being ‘official policy,’ there are a lot of steps that need to be taken that are more specific than just saying that it is an official policy,” Neslusan told a CBS News affiliate in Boston.
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 weren’t immediately revealed about the planned steps to rescind the orders, or when they would be announced.
The impending 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 backward.
“Dr. King had a dream, and this is his nightmare: the rollback of the work of our civil and human rights coalition over the past 75 years,” Wiley said in a statement.
Challenges to come
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 back against these harmful provisions with everything we’ve got,” said Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBTQ+ rights advocacy group in the U.S., in a statement.
Rights advocates have said any DEI and transgender rights rollbacks implemented by Trump would be a blow to hard-fought efforts to secure equitable policies and undermine progress made to address systemic prejudices that have deprived equal opportunities for marginalized groups for decades.
“We will continue our relentless efforts to protect immigrant rights, combat voter suppression and confront hate and discrimination in all its forms,” Asian Americans Advancing Justice said in a statement.
Many corporations — including Meta, McDonald’s and Walmart — have distanced themselves from DEI measures, with some rolling back DEI initiatives and programs in recent weeks. Meanwhile, companies such as Costco and Apple have remained resolute in maintaining their commitment to DEI.
New expectations for federal employers
The Trump administration would only recognize two sexes, male and female, that were unchangeable, and would instruct federal employers to use the term sex and not gender, which can refer to gender norms and identity, the incoming White House official said in a background briefing.
The U.S. official, without providing details, also said federal funding would not be used on gender-affirming care.
Federal policy on transgender health care is largely affected by Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, that bans discrimination in health care on the basis of sex.
In his first term, Trump issued regulations to weaken that section, which was strengthened again under former U.S. president Joe Biden.
The Trump administration also planned to limit the scope of a major victory for transgender rights under the 2020 U.S. Supreme Court ruling of 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 would provide explicit guidance on how to apply Bostock, the official said.
A recurrent Republican focus
Transgender rights have become a contentious political topic in recent years. During November’s election season, many Republicans campaigned on reversing transgender laws with a particular focus on transgender women participating in sports. Related messaging was at the core of some advertising put forward by Trump’s campaign and supporting groups, who collectively spent millions of dollars to disseminate these ads late in the campaign.
During a pre-inauguration rally on Sunday, Trump said that he will 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 that he would ban transgender troops from serving in the military, and his administration did freeze recruitment of transgender personnel. Biden overturned that decision when he took office in 2021.
Brian Kalt, a constitutional law professor at Michigan State University, said that while presidents do have executive authority, some actions that Trump has promised to enact — such as ending birthright citizenship — will “face an uphill battle in court.”
