ABC NEWS
On his first day back in office on Monday, President Trump issued an executive order declaring that the U.S. government would only recognize a person’s sex assigned at birth, limit the definition of a “male” or “female” to their reproductive cells and potentially withhold federal funding from programs that acknowledge transgender people or “gender ideology.”
Medical and legal experts say the executive order rejects the reality of sexual and gender diversity, and are concerned about the implications it will have for intersex, nonbinary and transgender Americans.
Anti-transgender themes were central to the Trump campaign. In the months leading up to the 2024 election, the campaign and Republican groups spent millions on anti-trans television ads. Trump also promised to restrict access to gender-affirming care and transgender participation in sports.
Trump’s executive order declares sex as “an individual’s immutable biological classification as either male or female” and states that “gender identity” cannot be included in the definition of “sex,” and that “sex” and “gender” cannot be used interchangeably.
The executive order declares there are only “two sexes, male and female” and defines a “female” as “a person belonging, at conception, to the sex that produces the large reproductive cell.” The order defines “male” as “a person belonging, at conception, to the sex that produces the small reproductive cell.”
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