President-elect Donald Trump will declare shortly after taking office on Monday that the federal government only recognizes two sexes — male and female — a move that reverses protections for transgender people put in place under outgoing President Joe Biden.
Trump will make the declaration as part of a flurry of executive orders he is planning to sign after his noon inauguration. An incoming White House official who described the measure said it is about “restoring sanity.”
The State Department, Department of Homeland Security and other agencies will be tasked with enforcing the directive, which applies to passports, visas and other government documents, according to the incoming White House official.
Since 2022, the State Department has allowed people to select a third gender, X, on their passports, and did not require them to provide medical documentation. The marker accommodates people who don’t identify as male or female, including people who consider themselves nonbinary or intersex.
The incoming Trump White House official giving a pre-inauguration briefing on Monday said the new guidance will affect this practice.
“Then no longer will government be promoting gender ideology,” the person said, adding: “These are sexes that are not tangible, and they are bounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality.”
“Agencies should give effect to these terms when applying their statutes, regulations, guidance and all other agency business,” the incoming White House official said. The official specifically pointed to the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security, and said federal agencies need to use the term sex, not gender.
“When the government fails to recognize the truth and treats self identification as more important than biological sex, people can no longer trust their government,” the incoming White House official said. “They can no longer understand the words that their government is using.”
