Executive Order: Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government

Date Issued: Jan. 20, 2025

Executive Summary

This executive order directs federal agencies and federal employees to interpret "sex" solely as an immutable binary biological classification determined at conception. The order also requires all federal agencies to enforce sex-based rights, protections and accommodations using this definition of "sex." The presidential assistant for legislative affairs is directed to draft a "proposed codification" of the seven definitions as defined in the order. The order further directs the secretary of state and secretary of homeland security, along with the director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), to require that all government-issued identification documents, including passports and federal employment records, reflect only biological "sex" as defined in the order. The order also instructs agencies to "evaluate grant conditions and grantee preferences" to ensure federal funds are not used to "promote gender ideology." It also instructs the secretary of housing and urban development (HUD) to prepare policies protecting women seeking single-sex rape shelters and requires the Bureau of Prisons to revise its medical care policies to correspond with the order's definition of sex. Agencies shall also ensure that intimate spaces designated for women/girls/females (or men/boys/males) are designated by the order's definition of sex and not identity.

Policy Actions

• Recognizes two sexes – male and female – that are not "changeable." The executive branch is ordered to enforce all sex-protective laws to promote this categorization.
• Defines seven terms:
• sex (which does not include the concept of "gender identity")
• woman/women/girl(s)
• men/man/boy(s)
• female (as determined at conception)
• male (as determined at conception)
• gender identity (an "internal and subjective sense of self, disconnected from biological reality and sex…that does not provide a meaningful basis for identification")
• gender ideology (which "replaces the biological category of sex with an ever-shifting concept of self-assessed gender identity…[and] includes the idea that there is a vast spectrum of genders that are disconnected from one's sex")
• Within 30 days, the secretary of HHS shall provide to the U.S. government, external partners and the public "clear guidance" expanding on the above definitions. Also within 30 days, the presidential assistant for legislative affairs shall draft a proposed codification of the definitions.
• Federal agencies and employees shall enforce laws governing sex-based rights, protections, opportunities and accommodations to "protect men and women as biologically distinct sexes" utilizing the foregoing definitions of sex, male, female, women/girls and men/boys.
• The secretary of state and secretary of homeland security, along with the director of OPM, shall require that government-issued identification documents reflect the holder’s sex as defined in the order. OPM shall ensure that personnel records accurately report employees' sex as defined in the order.
• Federal agencies shall remove and cease to issue statements, policies, regulations, forms, communications or other internal and external messages that promote or otherwise inculcate gender ideology.
• Where applicable, agency forms shall list male or female and not request gender identity.
• Agencies shall take "all necessary steps, as permitted by law, to end the Federal funding of gender ideology." Agencies shall assess grant conditions and grantee preferences to ensure grant funds to not promote gender ideology.
• The U.S. attorney general shall immediately issue guidance to agencies to "correct the misapplication" of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Bostock v. Clayton County (2020) (an employment discrimination case under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act) to sex-based distinctions in agency activities. The U.S. attorney general shall issue guidance and provide other assistance to agencies in protecting sex-based distinctions "explicitly permitted under Constitutional and Statutory precedent." The order contains several provisions addressing "privacy in intimate spaces."
• The U.S. attorney general and secretary of homeland security shall ensure that males are not detained in women's prisons or housed in women's detention centers.
• HUD shall commence rulemaking to rescind the final rule, "Equal Access in Accordance with an Individual's Gender Identity in Community Planning and Development Programs" (a 2016 regulation that ensures equal access for individuals in accordance with their gender identity in programs and shelter funded under programs administered by HUD's Office of Community Planning and Development). HUD shall also submit for public comment a policy protecting women seeking single-sex rape shelters.
• The U.S. attorney general shall ensure that the Bureau of Prisons revises its medical care policies to be consistent with this order and explicitly states that no federal funds are to be expended for any medical procedure, treatment or drug for the purpose of confirming an inmate's appearance to that of the opposite sex.
• Agencies shall ensure that intimate spaces designated for women/girls/females (or men/boys/males) are designated by the order's definition of sex and not identity.
• The U.S. attorney general shall issue guidance to ensure "the freedom to express the binary nature of sex and the right to single-sex spaces in workplaces and federally funded entities" covered by the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Agencies with enforcement responsibilities under the Civil Rights Act (including the U.S. attorney general, secretary of labor, general counsel and chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, or EEOC) shall prioritize investigations and litigation to enforce such rights and freedoms.
• The order contains directions to agencies on implementation, including:
• Reporting within 120 days on changes to documents (regulations, guidance, forms, communications) and agency-imposed requirements on federally funded entities.
• Prompt rescission of all guidance documents inconsistent with the order. A specific, non-exclusive list of documents includes 13 issued by the U.S. Department of Education (including several addressing Title IX), the U.S. attorney general's memo on application of Bostock to Title IX and the EEOC's 2024 guidance on harassment in the workplace.

Revoked Executive Actions

• Executive Order 13988 of Jan. 20, 2021 (Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation) – Emphasized that all individuals, regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation, should receive equal treatment and protection under federal law and directed federal agencies to ensure that their policies protect against such discrimination in areas including employment, education, healthcare and housing
• Executive Order 14004 of Jan. 25, 2021 (Enabling All Qualified Americans To Serve Their Country in Uniform) – Emphasized that gender identity should not be a bar to military service and directed the U.S. Department of Defense and U.S. Department of Homeland Security to ensure that military policies are consistent with this principle
• Executive Order 14020 of March 8, 2021 (Establishment of the White House Gender Policy Council) – tasked the White House Gender Policy Council with addressing issues such as gender-based violence, economic disparities, healthcare access and barriers to education and leadership opportunities for women and marginalized genders
• Executive Order 14021 of March 8, 2021 (Guaranteeing an Educational Environment Free From Discrimination on the Basis of Sex, Including Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity) – Prohibited discrimination on the basis of sex in education programs or activities receiving federal financial assistance; directed federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Education, to review and enforce anti-discrimination protections in schools and educational institutions
• Executive Order 14075 of June 15, 2022 (Advancing Equality for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex Individuals) – combatted unlawful discrimination and eliminates disparities that harm LGBTQIA+ individuals and their families

Trump's 2025 Executive Orders: Updates and Summaries

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