US President Donald Trump has announced a plan to put an end to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, intersex, asexual, and more (LGBTQ+), saying the country’s policy will only recognise two genders – male and female.
Trump said this in his inauguration speech on Monday, January 20, 2024, at Washington D.C. in the Capitol Rotunda
“I will also end the government policy of trying to socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life… As of today, it will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, male and female,” he said.
This slight to the LGBTQ+ community, trans folks in particular, was explained prior to Trump’s address in statement from a White House official who said that in practical terms, official documents going forward would be be forced to “reflect sex accurately.”
“No longer will the federal government be promoting gender ideology,” the official said.
The government would also only recognize two genders — male and female — ending official policies that recognized a third gender, denoted by an “X” on US passports for example.
“What we’re doing today is defining that it is the policy of the United States to recognize two sexes: male and female,” the official said.
Under the executive order, which Trump promises to sign making this declaration official, prisons and settings such as shelters for migrants and rape victims would be segregated by sex, based on this criteria.
The order would also block requirements at government facilities and at workplaces that transgender people be referred to using the pronouns that align with their gender.
Trump’s team claims those requirements violate the First Amendment’s freedom of speech and religion.
The president also promised to take a deep dive into diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, and end their federal funding.
As part of this, officials said there would be a monthly meeting of relevant agencies to assess any DEI programs and whether they should be shut down.