STATEMENT: Trump’s Expected Day One Gender and DEI Executive Orders are About Control and Limiting Basic Freedoms: “We Will Not Be Erased”

January 20. 2025

For Immediate Release
Jan 20, 2025

Media Contact
Nazirah Ahmad
[email protected]

Statement by Noreen Farrell, Executive Director of Equal Rights Advocates (ERA), which fights for gender justice in workplaces and schools across the country

Jan. 20, 2025 – Equal Rights Advocates condemns Trump’s expected Day One executive order attempting to erase the existence of nonbinary and gender expansive people from the federal government. Part of an expected sweeping dismantling of federal DEI programs, the executive order is anticipated to direct federal agencies to cease recognizing any gender identity other than “male” and “female” and to remove “nonbinary” or “other” options from federal documents, including passports and visas. 

Issued on Martin Luther King Day, the order offends the moral compass of the civil rights movement. The order is intent on erasing decades of progress toward a more inclusive society where everyone has the freedom to live authentically and pursue their dreams without discrimination. The government should protect all Americans, not target vulnerable communities.

The consequences of these orders will be immediate and devastating. Americans whose identity documents no longer match their lived reality will face increased risks of harassment and violence in their daily lives. The order also effectively mandates workplace harassment of nonbinary and transgender employees by giving federal workers and contractors legal protection to deliberately misgender their colleagues. The order institutionalizes discrimination as it also bans programs designed to end systemic bias. Without DEIA initiatives, federal agencies will struggle to build and retain the diverse, talented workforce needed to effectively serve all Americans.

The administration’s claim that these orders are about protecting women and biology is an affront to science, legal precedent, and the lived experience of millions across the nation. By declaring there can only be two binary categories of gender, this administration ignores decades of scientific and medical understanding while creating a dangerous framework for discrimination. 

This executive order isn’t about protecting women; it is about controlling them while simultaneously attacking some of our most marginalized community members. An administration genuinely concerned with women’s wellbeing would be addressing the real challenges that women face alongside people of all marginalized gender identities: the widening gender pay gap, lack of affordable childcare, and restricted access to reproductive healthcare. Instead, the administration’s first priority is forcing Americans into traditional gender roles while systematically dismantling federal diversity and inclusion programs that help create fair, equitable workplaces.

We will not be erased. Equal Rights Advocates and our partners across the country will fight these cruel and discriminatory orders with everything we have. 

To request an interview with ERA experts, contact Erin Musgrave at [email protected] or (530) 864-7014.

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About Equal Rights Advocates

Equal Rights Advocates fights for gender justice in workplaces and schools across the country. Since 1974, they have been fighting on the front lines of social justice to protect and advance rights and opportunities for women, girls, and people of all gender identities through groundbreaking legal cases and bold legislation that sets the stage for the rest of the nation.