Introduction
Within the first 100 days of his second term, President Donald Trump signed a series of orders, outlined below, to mark a significant shift in federal policy regarding gender identity, emphasizing a strict binary understanding of sex and rolling back civil protections for transgender individuals in sectors including education, health care, academic research, employment, housing and social services, law enforcement, citizenship, military service, and competitive athletics. This guidance seeks to give journalists some tools for covering these orders and their effects.
Executive orders are directives issued by the president that set policy for federal Executive Branch agencies. They are powerful tools but do not supersede the Constitution or laws passed by Congress. In addition, they can be challenged in court or rescinded by future presidents.
While challenges to many of Trump’s orders move through federal court, it falls to journalists to explain the orders’ effects and investigate the president’s broader purpose in signing them. Journalism is more compelling and audiences are better served when we cut through the jargon and tell stories that include the impact on people in the community.
- E.O. 14168: “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government” Directs the federal government to recognize only two immutable sexes — male and female — determined at conception, and directs federal agencies to end funding to “promote gender ideology” — prompting grant terminations at agencies including the departments of Agriculture, Education, Health and Human Services, and Housing and Urban Development, among others. The order directs the attorney general to reinterpret civil rights protections. It bars transgender individuals from federally funded, single-sex facilities that align with their gender identity — including women’s shelters and prisons. The order also affects all federal identification documents, including passports and personnel records. Additionally, it directs agencies to remove statements “promoting gender ideology,” which, for example, prompted agencies to remove guidance related to gender identity from their websites.
- E.O. 14183: “Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness” Directs the Department of Defense to revise medical, personnel and training policies to exclude from military service any individual whose gender differs from the government’s determination of their sex, asserting that gender dysphoria “conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle.”
- E.O. 14187: “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation” Directs federal agencies to withhold funding from institutions that provide gender-affirming care — including puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgeries — to “individuals under 19 years of age” — catching a lot of legal adults in an order that is advertised as “protecting children.” The order also requires HHS to publish a review of existing studies on best practices for care of children with gender dysphoria, which resulted in a controversial report that falsely claimed gender-affirming care was based on weak evidence and pushed for a dangerous kind of therapy instead.
- E.O. 14190: “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling” States that K-12 schools that teach materials deemed “anti-American,” including content related to “gender ideology” and “discriminatory equity ideology” (e.g., critical race theory) risk losing federal funding. The attorney general is directed to investigate and prosecute educators who support the social transition of transgender students, such as using preferred names or pronouns, under charges including sexual exploitation of a minor and practicing medicine without a license.
- E.O. 14201: “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” States that educational institutions receiving federal funding must restrict participation in women’s sports to individuals the government recognizes as female, reinterpreting Title IX to exclude transgender women and girls from female sports teams. (The order does not address transgender men participating in men’s sports.) The State Department is directed to push for similar policies internationally and to review visa policies for transgender athletes.
Executive orders not explicitly targeting trans communities but expected to affect them:
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- E.O. 14202: “Eradicating Anti-Christian Bias” — Seeks to end “anti-Christian weaponization of government,” justified, in part, by accusing the Biden administration of forcing Christians “to affirm radical transgender ideology against their faith” and declaring Transgender Day of Visibility on Easter Sunday 2024. (Transgender Day of Visibility is observed internationally, every year on March 31, while the date of Easter changes every year.)
- E.O. 14160: “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship” — In attempting to redefine birthright citizenship, this order requires a mother and father as “biological progenitor.”
General guidance and recommendations
Consider consequences beyond what is stated. Whether or not an order is legally enforceable, it could encourage policy shifts or create conflicts beyond federal purview. Individual state anti-discrimination laws could conflict with E.O. 14201, for instance, yet collegiate athletic associations might align themselves with the order, despite there being no mandate to do so. A clinic could stop providing health care for transgender minors, even if E.O. 14187 doesn’t specifically require it.
Don’t take the wording of an order at face value. Political shorthand often uses demeaning language and reflects pseudoscientific claims. Trust experts over political talking points.
Don’t let anecdotes carry false equivalency to scientific findings. Seek out evidence of the actual scope of the alleged problems the administration is purporting to solve. Ask: How have children thus far been harmed? Are there police reports of trans women attacking cisgender women in bathrooms? Is the assertion that trans athletes harm competitive sports supported by data? What percentage of people under age 18 have received gender-related medications or any sort of surgical intervention?
Prioritize relevant voices. Seek out voices of the people who are most directly targeted, including trans people, the parents of trans children, and their immediate circles.
Beware of politically loaded phrases. Terms such as the ones below are branding tools, not neutral descriptors, designed to oversimplify complex issues, evoke emotional reactions and distort open, critical discussion. Journalists should examine them skeptically. Using them without explanation is a disservice to the audience.
- “Biological truth” and “biological sex” — Millions of Americans have physical traits that contradict the government’s narrow definition of these terms, as sex may be based on chromosomes, internal sex organs, external genitalia, reproductive cells or other factors.
- “Chemical and surgical mutilation” — This falsely equates gender-based health care with surgical malpractice, medical abuse, sexual abuse and chemical castration (a punishment in some states for sex offenders). Surgery performed with informed consent by a physician is not mutilation.
- “Defending women” and “protecting children” — Like “pro-life,” these vague and euphemistic terms imply moral superiority to the opposition and shift focus away from the real policy goal.
- “Discriminatory equity ideology” — This oxymoron misrepresents the purpose of equity, reframing the goal of fair access and opportunity — once an American ideal — as somehow unjust. Like “reverse discrimination,” it shifts focus from policy outcomes to the resentment of the privileged class.
- “Gender ideology extremism” — Like “gay agenda” and “woke agenda,” this term politicizes an entire identity group, dismissing a transgender individual’s life as a political stunt rather than a demographic characteristic.
- “Radical indoctrination” — This rhetorically strategic term allows for broad, politically motivated interpretation and assumes schools operate in an environment devoid of critical thinking.
Follow false statements with a fact check. It is our duty to prevent the spread of misinformation — which, remember, can come from opponents of anti-trans actions as well as supporters.
Be specific when necessary. Trans communities are not a monolith, and not all trans communities are being targeted in the same way. Be aware of whether the subject is all transgender people or, specifically, trans women.
Explore the underlying conflicts of a story. Digging beyond the surface conflict may reveal a deeper, more fundamental issue worth exploring. For instance, in a story about a cisgender girl missing out on a scholarship to a trans athlete, the conflict may not be the supposed advantage of trans athletes but rather an underlying problem with scholarship criteria or selection.
Resources
If you or someone in your newsroom has questions about language use, NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists is available to provide peer-to-peer guidance. These additional resources may be helpful:
- ACLU: LGBTQ Rights Project — national civil rights advocacy organization, offers a guide on how executive orders work
- Advocates for Trans Equality — organization formed by merger of National Center for Transgender Equality and Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund, offers resources explaining and tracking the federal actions against trans communities
- American Bar Association — legal membership organization, offers insight and commentary on how federal law affects human rights
- Education Writers Association — nonprofit journalism organization, offers resources for covering Trump executive orders affecting education
- Lambda Legal — legal organization that specializes in LGBTQ+ civil rights litigation, education and policy work
- Movement Advancement Project — nonprofit think tank, tracks state and federal laws and policies that affect LGBTQ+ people
- National LGBTQ+ Bar — legal membership organization, has an anti-LGBTQ+ executive order litigation tracker
- Transgender Law Center — national trans-led organization advocating for self-determination and legal justice for trans individuals and communities
- Trans Journalists Association — membership organization, maintains a thoughtful stylebook that digs deeper into terminology, anti-trans laws and policies and covering executive orders that target trans Americans — including links to dozens of helpful articles
- USCourts.gov — website for the U.S. Courts, offers a guide to the federal courts
- Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law — research center focused on sexual orientation and gender identity law and public policy, publishes empirical studies and legal analyses of policies affecting LGBTQ people
- World Professional Association for Transgender Health — interdisciplinary organization promoting evidence-based care, education, research, public policy and respect in transgender health
About NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists
NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists is a journalist-led association working within the news media to advance fair and accurate coverage of LGBTQ+ communities and issues.
Our Stylebook on LGBTQ+ Terminology, in addition to this supplement, is intended to complement the long-form style books of individual publications, as well as The Associated Press Stylebook, which also has extensive guidance on language around gender, sex and sexual orientation.