President Trump on Monday ordered his administration to gut policies instituted under the Biden administration to prevent sex discrimination and protect transgender Americans, and dismantle federal programs that promote diversity, equity and inclusion.
Mr. Trump’s actions, part of a blitz of orders that he signed on his first day in office, assert that the government will now defend women against “gender ideology extremism” by reversing “efforts to eradicate the biological reality of sex.” They also call for ending D.E.I. programs and the “termination of all discriminatory programs” in the government, including in federal employment practices.
The executive orders included a mix of administrative measures, such as changing government forms to include only two genders, as well as assertions dismissing the validity of gender identity entirely. A gender identity other than the one assigned at birth, an order said, “reflects a fully internal and subjective sense of self” and “does not provide a meaningful basis for identification.”
The actions also effectively shut down an array of programs and practices aimed at reversing decades of systemic inequities and discriminatory practices that have disproportionately affected Black people and other underserved communities.
Under the orders, the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Performance and Personnel Management will coordinate on changing hiring practices, ending equity-focused programs and grants and terminating “chief diversity officer” positions designated during the Biden administration.
The orders deliver on Mr. Trump’s promise to eradicate what his allies consider to be “wokeism” in the federal government, a term that conservatives use to describe racial justice and civil rights advocacy. They are part of an effort that he took up in his first term by rolling back policies boosting affirmative action and transgender rights.