Among the roughly 200 executive actions, memoranda and proclamations that Donald Trump signed on his first day as president was an executive order declaring that there are only two sexes (male and female) and repealing numerous pro-transgender memoranda and orders made by former President Joe Biden.

Trump’s order directs federal agencies to start using the term “sex” and stop using the term “gender,” to stop interpreting anti-discrimination laws as being inclusive of transgender people, and to only issue government documents that reflect a person’s sex assigned at birth. The Human Rights Campaign has pledged to “fight back against these harmful provisions with everything we’ve got.”

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The order, entitled “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” defines one’s biological sex as being determined by the size of their reproductive cells: small for men and large for women. The order neither says how the government will determine the size of one’s reproductive cells nor how it will handle individuals whose bodies don’t have such cells.

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The order directs all federal government departments and agencies to “remove all statements, policies, regulations, forms, communications, or other internal and external messages that promote or otherwise inculcate gender ideology.” It also says, “Federal funds shall not be used to promote gender ideology” and instructs the Bureau of Prisons to revise its policies to ensure that federal inmates do not receive “any medical procedure, treatment, or drug for the purpose of conforming an inmate’s appearance to that of the opposite sex.”

Furthermore, it directs the secretaries of State and Homeland Security and the director of the Office of Personnel Management to require that government-issued identification documents — including passports, visas, Global Entry cards, and personnel records — “accurately reflect the holder’s sex.”

The order also directs the attorney general to “prioritize investigations and litigation” to ensure that single-sex spaces — like women’s domestic abuse shelters and women’s workplace showers — remain segregated by biological sex.

“Efforts to eradicate the biological reality of sex fundamentally attack women by depriving them of their dignity, safety, and well-being,” the order states. “The erasure of sex in language and policy has a corrosive impact not just on women but on the validity of the entire American system.”

In response to the order, Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson said in a statement, “Make no mistake: these actions will not take effect immediately.” Indeed, many of the order’s provisions provide a 30-day deadline to go into effect.

“Today’s expected executive actions targeting the LGBTQ+ community serve no other purpose than to hurt our families and our communities,” Robinson added. “Every person deserves to be treated with dignity and respect in all areas of their lives. No one should be subjected to ongoing discrimination, harassment, and humiliation where they work, go to school, or access healthcare.”

“Our community has fought for decades to ensure that our relationships are respected at work, that our identities are accepted at school, and that our service is honored in the military,” she continued. “Any attack on our rights threatens the rights of any person who doesn’t fit into the narrow view of how they should look and act. The incoming administration is trying to divide our communities in the hope that we forget what makes us strong. But we refuse to back down or be intimidated.”

“We are not going anywhere. and we will fight back against these harmful provisions with everything we’ve got,” her statement concluded.

Trump has promised to re-implement his trans military ban and restrict access to gender-affirming care for trans youth.

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