President Joe Biden answers questions from the media at the White House on Jan. 25, 2021.
President Joe Biden has signed an executive order mandating the government to redefine all policies and regulations to include “gender identity” when it comes to gender-based discrimination. This would mean that all services and amenities reserved for women must also be available to men who identify themselves as women.
The executive order has been welcomed by transgender activists, but critics argue that it weakens protections for women and girls. It remains to be seen how the administration will interpret the order in specific circumstances, but its language suggests that women’s sports, women-only restrooms and locker rooms at federally funded institutions will have to be open to people whose biological sex is male but who self-identify as female, and vice versa. These institutions will include all levels of schools that receive federal funding.
The order states, “Children learn and should be able to learn without fear of whether they will be denied access to restrooms, locker rooms or participation in school sports.”
The order goes further by including “gender identity” in the definition of sex discrimination in housing, workplace and medical settings.
The order says, “Adults should be able to earn a living and pursue a career without being fired, demoted, or mistreated because of what gender they identify as or dress in a way that does not conform to gender-based stereotypes. People should be able to access health care and secure housing without gender discrimination.”
The order orders federal agencies to “review all existing orders, regulations, guidance documents, policies, programs, or other agency actions related to sex discrimination” and to make changes or issue new regulations to incorporate gender identity.
How the order will be implemented in practice will depend on how agencies interpret it and, in particular, how they will define “gender identity.
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