The United States recognises only two sexes — male and female — an executive order signed by Donald Trump, who returned to the White House on January 20, has said, adding a person's “sex” is unchangeable.
The order was among a slew comes orders signed by Trump to end a range of polices promoting racial equity and protecting the rights of the LGBTQIA+ people.
The order also requires the federal government to use the term "sex" rather than "gender" while mandating that identification documents issued by the government, including passports and visas, be based on what has been described as "an individual's immutable biological classification as either male or female".
"I’ve made it an official policy of the United States that there are only two genders, male and female. We will have no men participating in women’s sports, and transgender operations, which became the rage, will occur very rarely,” Trump said.
During his inauguration, Trump said he would forge a society that is “colour blind and merit based”.
Trump repealed many orders promoting the LGBTQ equality and issued new ones decreeing ending government diversity programs, breaking what he calls as "woke" culture.
A BBC report quoting an official said one of the orders would "end DEI inside the federal government", cut funding to such programmes across all agencies and include a review of offices renamed because of DEI initiatives.
Several large US companies, including McDonald's, Walmart and Facebook parent company Meta, have ended or scaled back their DEI programmes since Trump’s election.
Others like Apple and retailers Target and Costco, publicly defended their existing programmes.
Trump’s order said, "The Biden Administration forced illegal and immoral discrimination programs, going by the name 'diversity, equity, and inclusion' (DEI), into virtually all aspects of the Federal Government, in areas ranging from airline safety to the military."
While campaigning, Trump also opposed recognition of gender diversity, attacking transgender people, notably transgender women in sports, and gender-affirming care for children.
Algerian boxer Imane Khelif’s at the Paris Olympics was embroiled in a heated debate over gender eligibility rules with global public figures and sporting bodies weighing in.
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