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President Donald Trump signs executive order recognising ‘only two sexes’ in US
The executive order requires the United States federal government to use the term "sex" rather than "gender".
President Donald Trump ordered on Monday that the United States will recognise only two sexes, male and female. The executive order also stated that a person's sex is unchangeable.
This comes amid a slew of executive orders from the newly installed President to end a range of policies aimed at promoting racial equity and protecting rights for LGBTQ+ people.
The order requires the federal government to use the term "sex" rather than “gender”, while mandating that identification documents issued by the government, including passports and visas, be based on what it described as "an individual's immutable biological classification as either male or female."
"As of today, it will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders: male and female,” Trump said in his inaugural address. He also said that he would forge a society that is ‘colour blind and merit based’.
Also read: Donald Trump starts 2nd term with blitz of executive orders: Full list
Donald Trump repeals orders promoting LGBTQ equality
Donald Trump repealed numerous executive orders promoting LGBTQ equality and issued new ones decreeing ending government diversity programs, definitively breaking with what he decries as "woke" culture.
On the campaign trail, Trump vilified diversity, equity and inclusion policies in the federal government and corporate world, saying they discriminated against white people -- men in particular.
"The Biden Administration forced illegal and immoral discrimination programs, going by the name 'diversity, equity, and inclusion' (DEI), into virtually all aspects of the Federal Government, in areas ranging from airline safety to the military," said one new order ending such programs.
While campaigning, Trump also demonised any recognition of gender diversity, attacking transgender people, notably transgender women in sports, and gender-affirming care for children.
In front of a crowd of supporters in a Washington arena, Trump wiped out 78 executive orders, actions and presidential memoranda issued by his predecessor Joe Biden. Several of the overturned decrees promoted diversity and equality in the government, workplaces and healthcare, as well as the rights of LGBTQ Americans.
In doing so, Trump fulfilled a campaign promise to immediately curtail programs that sought to redress historical inequality but that he has insisted disadvantage white people, particularly men.
He scrapped Biden-era executive orders that prevented "discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation," discrimination against LGBTQ Americans in education, as well as equity programs for Black, Hispanic and Pacific Islander Americans.
(With agency inputs)
