Trump's Executive Order on Sex and Gender

It’s a rational policy and on every metric, voters agree with it.

On the first day of his second term, President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order titled, “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.” It reflects what I and many other rank-and-file Democrats have been saying for years—that “gender identity” ideology robs women and girls of female-only spaces and denies the material reality of sex. Although necessarily somewhat limited due to the limited nature of federal executive authority, the order is likely to have sweeping effects across the country, in ways that will be welcome to many voters, including Democrats.

The order undoes countless other orders, memos, and guidance documents previously issued by the Biden administration, which redefined the word “sex” to include the nebulous concept of “gender identity” for all purposes under federal administrative law. The purpose of those orders, memos, and guidance documents was to accommodate the demands of people (mostly men) who claim to be the opposite sex, a member of neither sex, or a member of a third sex class that does not exist (collectively known as “transgender people”).

For example, the order requires the Attorney General, whose office oversees the Justice Department and therefore the Bureau of Prisons, to reevaluate the practice of housing male inmates in a federal women’s prison based on their claimed “gender identities.” It also contemplates the possibility of amending 2012 regulations that implemented the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA). Those regulations require that “transgender” prisoners be held in a facility of their choice on a case-by-case basis.

The order also requires the Department of Housing and Urban Development to reevaluate previous regulations mandating that federally-funded single-sex rape shelters accommodate the demands of men who claim to have female “gender identities.”

It requires the Secretaries of State and Homeland Security, and the Director of the Office of Personnel Management, to implement changes to require that government-issued identification documents, including passports, visas, and Global Entry cards, as well as all federal employment records, accurately reflect the holder’s sex.

It establishes that it is the policy of the United States executive branch that there are only two sexes, and that sex is binary and immutable. It permits federal employees to acknowledge as much and requires federal employees to use the word “sex” in lieu of “gender” when acting in an official government capacity.

The order does not address female-only sports specifically. However, it directs agencies to “take all necessary steps, as permitted by law, to end the federal funding of gender ideology.” Because the vast majority of U.S. educational institutions receive funding under Title IX, those institutions will likely have to stop permitting men and boys to compete in female-only sports, or risk losing their funding. Earlier this month, the U.S. House passed the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act and the Senate will soon have the opportunity to do the same.

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These are sweeping changes that undo four years of nonsensical interpretations of sex in legal terms under President Biden. And, these shifts are consistent with American voters’ views on matters pertaining to sex and gender. Although the word “gender” is often used in lieu of “sex” in polite conversation, the conflation of the two words has wrought a tremendous amount of confusion in society, law, and policy. In reality, most people (including most Democrats) know that sex is real, binary, and immutable. Their policy preferences also reflect this understanding.

Polling conducted by The New York Times and Ipsos in January 2025 shows that American voters are overwhelmingly in alignment with what this new order accomplishes. When asked which of three possible approaches comes closest to their feelings about “the way our society deals with transgender people,” roughly half of all voters think “society has gone too far” compared to only about one fifth of voters who feel “society has not gone far enough” and about three in ten who think we’ve reached a reasonable balance already. Three-quarters of Republicans believe society has gone too far, while 62 percent of Democrats and 61 percent of independents feel society has either gone too far or has found a reasonable balance in accommodating transgender people.

Even more striking, when asked, “Thinking about transgender female athletes—meaning athletes who were male at birth but who currently identify as female—do you think they should or should not be allowed to compete in women’s sports,” 79 percent of all voters (including 67 percent of Democrats and 64 percent of independents) think they should not.

When asked about whether doctors should be able to prescribe puberty blockers and/or opposite-sex hormones to minors, 71 percent of voters—including 54 percent of Democrats and 61 percent of independents—think no one under 18 should have access to such hormones (the prescription of such hormones was not addressed in the recent executive order, however).

This research is also consistent with polling conducted in November 2023 on behalf of feminist group Women’s Declaration International USA. That survey reflected a strong consensus in favor of female-only spaces and services. For example, 83 percent of respondents, including 76 percent of Democrats, agreed that female inmates should share cells only with fellow female prisoners. Eighty-five percent of respondents, including 74 percent of Democrats, agreed that a female airline passenger should be patted down by a female TSA officer only.

On question after question related to “transgender” issues, the vast majority of Americans, including large percentages of Democrats themselves, reject the positions the Democratic Party and its politicians have chosen to promote with zeal in recent years.

Women on the left have spent years warning Democratic Party leaders of what was coming in November 2024 if they didn’t reverse course on this topic. Needless to say, they didn’t. And as predicted, this turn away from common sense on “transgender” issues cost them votes (“Kamala Harris is for they/them; President Trump is for you”).

Even since the election, party officials have continued to behave in ways that are likely to alienate voters. Earlier this month, during a debate on the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, they made false claims and hyperbolic charges on the House floor, claiming that the bill will require “genital inspection” for children (it does not). Only two Democratic representatives from Texas crossed party lines to support the bill—Reps. Vicente Gonzalez and Henry Cuellar.

Republicans could, of course, overreach on these matters and turn off voters if they start acting irrationally. But the actions of the majority are not something Democrats can control. Do Democratic Party leaders have the courage and strategic sense to change course going forward and acknowledge that the party is on the wrong side of this issue—and public opinion on the matter? It’s hard to say. But 2026 is not that far away and we’ll soon find out.

Kara Dansky is the author of the books, The Abolition of Sex: How the “Transgender” Agenda Harms Women and Girls, and The Reckoning: How the Democrats and the Left Betrayed Women and Girls.