In the weeks preceding the Jan. 20, 2025, inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump for his second term in office, claims abounded on the internet that some of the first executive orders he would sign would address trans and nonbinary gender identities, essentially prohibiting people from identifying as anything other than the gender they were assigned at birth.
For example, someone posted (archived) on X that Trump's executive orders would define gender in terms of male or female only, stop people from requesting changes on identity documents and ban inmates from obtaining gender-affirming care:
As of this writing, this post had gained more than 377,500 views. The claim also appeared on BlueSky, Reddit, Facebook and Instagram. ABC correspondent Selina Wang said on X (archived) that there would be more than one executive order on the issue:
Other outlets, including the news agency Agence France-Presse, also reported Trump would sign several executive orders on the matter:
U.S. President Donald Trump will issue a series of executive orders targeting diversity programs and gender identity policies Monday, using his inauguration speech to signal a definitive break with what he decries as "woke" culture.
During his campaign, Trump touted the question of gender as one of his top policy priorities. In a video posted on his campaign website, he vowed to "protect children from left-wing gender insanity." Among other actions he promised to take, he said he would "revoke Joe Biden's cruel policies on so-called 'gender-affirming care'—a process that includes giving kids puberty blockers, mutating their physical appearance, and ultimately performing surgery on minor children."
During his inauguration speech, Trump reiterated his intention to implement sweeping measures to enforce a gender binary and prevent people from choosing their gender identity (he said the quote at around minute 18 of his speech):
The quote read (emphasis ours):
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.
Indeed, shortly after he was inaugurated, Trump signed a slew of executive orders, including one on gender, titled "Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government." The order accused "ideologues who deny the biological reality of sex" of allowing "men to self-identify as women and gain access to intimate single-sex spaces and activities designed for women."
The executive order said the U.S. government would only "recognize two sexes, male and female." It added that the sexes were not changeable, and were determined "at conception." It also deemed "false" the claim that someone of one sex could identify as belonging to the other sex.
The order also said agencies should enforce this definition by using "sex" rather than "gender" in policies and documents. It further ordered that "government-issued identification documents, including passports, visas, and Global Entry cards, accurately reflect the holder's sex." Indeed, a page of the U.S. Department of State that gave instructions on how to request a modification of the gender marker of a passport has already disappeared. The internet address redirects to the general page on applying for a passport.
The executive order included provisions for incarcerated people whose sex is male to be removed from women's prisons and detention centers.
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) spokesperson Gillian Branstetter said in a phone interview that the executive order does not affect documents issued by states, such as driver's licenses and birth certificates. Rather, it pertains to federal documentation only, and she described its language as "very broad."
Also, according to Branstetter, the order does not appear to be retroactive. In other words, it seemingly does not require people to reapply for federal documentation to meet the order's provisions. For instance, if someone has already changed their gender marker on their Social Security card — something that does not need to be renewed — they seemingly would not need to change it again, she said.
"If applied across the federal government, [the executive order is] plainly an effort to control our bodies and our lives," Branstetter said. "But the immediate enforcement mechanisms for a lot of it are just not clear, and a lot of these rules are going to have to go through federal rule-making and notice, and comment periods, and there's lots we can do to delay their enforcement."