At a glance
- Policy recognizes two sexes, male and female.
- Directs agencies to enforce laws to protect men and women as biologically distinct sexes.
- Directs rescission of inconsistent guidance documents including the EEOC’s 'Enforcement Guidance on Harassment in the Workplace'.
On January 20, 2025, President Trump issued an Executive Order (EO), Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism And Restoring Biological Truth To The Federal Government – The White House, stating its policy to recognize 'two sexes, male and female' and directing agencies to enforce laws governing sex-based rights, protections, opportunities, and accommodations to protect men and women as biologically distinct sexes, and not to use the terms gender or gender identity or promote gender ideology.
Among other things, the EO directs the Attorney General to issue guidance to agencies to
- Correct the misapplication of the Supreme Court’s decision in Bostock v. Clayton County (2020) to sex-based distinctions in agency activities;
- Ensure the freedom to express the binary nature of sex and the right to single-sex spaces in workplaces; and
- Prioritize investigations and litigation to enforce those rights.
The EO directs each agency head to rescind all guidance documents inconsistent with the EO, including the EEOC’s 'Enforcement Guidance on Harassment in the Workplace.'
The EEOC Acting Chair has announced her intent to prioritize compliance, investigations, and litigation to 'defend the biological and binary reality of sex and related rights.' While noting that she cannot unilaterally remove the EEOC’s enforcement guidance on harassment, Acting Chair Lucas reaffirmed her opposition to the guidance, including the enforcement position that harassing conduct under Title VII includes 'denial of access to a bathroom or other sex-segregated facility consistent with [an] individual’s gender identity;' and 'repeated and intentional use of a name or pronoun inconsistent with [an] individual’s known gender identity.'
