The Executive Orders Project - Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
By Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
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Overview
The White House has issued the following Executive Orders related to this issue:
Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government (issued January 20): States that when administering or enforcing sex-based distinctions, every agency and all federal employees acting in an official capacity on behalf of their agency shall use the term “sex” and not “gender” in all applicable federal policies and documents. The EO further defines “gender identity” as “an internal and subjective sense of self” and directs agencies to take steps to eradicate use of the term and to implement regulations, guidance, forms and communications to comply with this order.
Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity (issued January 21): Rescinds all diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices or programs across all executive departments and agencies. Agencies must also work to end DEI initiatives in the private sector in areas of their jurisdiction.
Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferences (issued January 20): Directs the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), assisted by the Attorney General and the Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), to coordinate the termination of all “discriminatory programs,” including DEI and “diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility” (DEIA) mandates, policies, programs, preferences, and activities in the federal government, “under whatever name they appear.”
Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness (issued January 27): Directs the Secretary of Defense to promptly issue directives for Department of Defense to end “invented and identification-based pronoun usage.”
Temporary Pause of Agency Grant, Loan, or Other Financial Assistance Programs (issued January 27, rescinded January 29): This memo instituted a “temporary pause” on all federal financial assistance and required government agencies to “conduct a review of every federal financial assistance program and related activity concerning their compliance with the President’s existing orders and policies.” (A federal judge issued a temporary block of this memorandum, and the Office of Management and Budget rescinded it the next day.)
Legal Challenges
There have been several legal challenges to these orders, according to Litigation Tracker: Legal Challenges to Trump Administration Actions:
Maria Moe v. Donald Trump et al (filed January 31): Plaintiff Moe is a transgender female federal inmate who was placed in a Special Housing Unit to await transfer to a men’s facility. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, seeks to block the EO “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism” on the basis that it violates the 5th Amendment by discriminating against transgender individuals on the basis of sex and gender identity; the 8th Amendment by subjecting Moe to risk to life and dignity; the Rehabilitation Act by failing to accommodate Moe’s gender dysphoria; and the Administrative Procedure Act by doing so in an arbitrary and capricious manner.
Talbott v. Trump (filed January 31): The EO “prioritizing military excellence” rescinds prior policy allowing transgender individuals to serve openly in the armed forces. Plaintiffs in this suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., are a group of active-duty transgender service members and prospective or current enlistees. They argue that the EO violates the Fifth Amendment’s due process clause.
National Council of Nonprofits v. Office of Management and Budget (filed January 28): The plaintiffs in this case, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., argue that the funding freeze violates federal law and the First Amendment by targeting recipients based on their political views.
State of New York et al v. Trump (filed January 28): This petition filed by a group of state attorneys general also asks for an injunction on the funding freeze. According to a litigation tracker on JustSecurity.org, the federal judge assigned to this case issued a temporary restraining order on the freeze and wrote that the case is not moot because “the alleged rescission of the OMB Directive was in name only and may have been issued simply to defeat the jurisdiction of the courts.”
Advance Stories
Fredericksburg Area Museum Fears Effects of Potential Grant Freeze
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Norfolk hospital suspends gender-affirming care for minors (WVEC-TV)
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