President Donald Trump signed an executive order seeking to halt federal recognition of transgender individuals late Monday as part of broader executive actions rolling back efforts to promote diversity and combat discrimination enacted during the Biden administration.
The order specifies that the federal government would recognize only two, immutable genders. Trump also issued orders that rolled back Biden-era orders allowing transgender military servicemembers, changing gender on passports and other efforts.
Trump’s call in the order for a bill to recognize only two genders federally will likely intensify fights in Congress over gender-affirming care and discrimination protections more broadly. Last year, Congress passed a law ending Tricare coverage for gender-affirming care for minors and the House has routinely debated amendments on spending bills that would affect the availability of transgender care.
