On January 20, 2025, President Donald Trump issued a groundbreaking executive order titled “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.” This policy sets a new trajectory for federal agencies by recognizing the immutable biological realities of sex as male or female and cutting federal funding for activities that promote gender ideology. The order aims to restore clarity in language, protect women’s rights, and realign Title IX to its original intent of safeguarding opportunities for biological females. For states like California, where gender ideology has deeply influenced schools, policies, and public spaces, the implications are profound.
Defining Male and Female: A Return to Biological Clarity
The executive order meticulously defines male and female based on immutable biological realities. It specifies:
- Male refers to “a person belonging, at conception, to the sex that produces the small reproductive cell.”
- Female refers to “a person belonging, at conception, to the sex that produces the large reproductive cell.”
In a clear rejection of gender ideology, the order underscores that sex is immutable and cannot be altered through self-identification or medical intervention. These definitions will guide all federal agencies in their interpretation and application of laws and policies.
“This executive action restores clarity to federal policies by reaffirming a clear, biological definition of sex across key sectors, including healthcare, education, and employment,” said Julianne E. Fleischer, Legal Counsel for Advocates for Faith and Freedom. “By affirming the biological distinction between male and female, this policy supports the enforcement of sex-based protections under the law, safeguarding women’s rights and preserving single-sex spaces.”
Federal Funding: A Major Shift
The executive order prohibits the use of federal funds to promote or support gender ideology. This includes educational grants, housing programs, and healthcare subsidies. Federal agencies are directed to evaluate all existing grants and regulations to ensure compliance with the new policy.
“President Trump’s executive order… puts woke public school districts on notice,” said Dean R. Broyles, Esq., President of the National Center for Law & Policy. “If you continue to deny two-sex biological reality and persist in indoctrinating children in harmful gender ideology, as most California schools aggressively do, you will lose federal funding.”
For California, where approximately 13.9% of public school budgets come from federal funds, this presents a serious challenge. Schools that continue to implement gender identity policies may face significant financial consequences, forcing them to reconsider their approaches.
Rejecting Gender Identity as a Replacement for Sex
The order is unequivocal in its rejection of gender identity as a basis for law or policy. It describes gender identity as “a fully internal and subjective sense of self, disconnected from biological reality and sex.” The text further criticizes gender ideology for being “internally inconsistent” and argues that replacing sex with gender identity undermines scientific, legal, and social frameworks.
The implications are sweeping:
- Federal Identification Documents: The order mandates that government-issued documents, such as passports and visas, reflect biological sex and not gender identity. This change is aimed at restoring trust in the accuracy and utility of federal records.
- Legal Consistency: All federal laws and policies will now reference “sex” as defined biologically. Terms like “woman,” “man,” “boy,” and “girl” will revert to their scientific meanings.
Single-Sex Spaces and Federal Prisons
One of the most impactful sections of the order addresses privacy and safety in intimate spaces. It directs federal agencies to ensure that single-sex spaces—such as bathrooms, locker rooms, and rape shelters—are designated based on biological sex. The implications for federally funded programs are profound:
- Federal Prisons: Male inmates, regardless of their gender identity, will no longer be housed in women’s facilities. This reverses policies that have raised significant safety concerns for female inmates.
- Rape Shelters: The Department of Housing and Urban Development is instructed to rescind Obama-era rules that allowed biological males identifying as females to access women’s shelters. New rules will ensure that women’s shelters provide secure, single-sex accommodations.
“There are only two sexes–male and female–and when you deny this fundamental truth, real people are hurt,” said Matt Sharp, Senior Counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom. “When the law fails to reflect that men and women are biologically different, females are denied fairness in athletics, privacy, and safety.”
Implications for Title IX and Education
According to Kevin Snider, Chief Counsel at the Pacific Justice Institute, “the Executive Order will recalibrate Title IX to bring it back into line with the congressional intent of providing equal educational opportunities for girls and young women, including sports.” By rejecting the interpretation of Title IX to include gender identity, the administration restores competitive fairness in women’s sports and ensures that sex-based distinctions in schools are preserved.
“California schools will face a reckoning,” said Greg Burt, Vice President of the California Family Council. “This executive order is a major victory for Californians fighting for female-only sports, women’s privacy in locker rooms and bathrooms, and parental rights. It pressures schools to stop socially transitioning children behind their parents’ backs and attempts to protect kids from harmful gender ideology.”
A Clear Path Forward
The executive order directs all federal agencies to revise their policies within 120 days to comply with its directives. It also requires the drafting of legislation to codify these definitions into law, setting the stage for a more permanent policy shift.
“This Administration’s commitment to upholding the integrity of sex-protective laws is a positive step in promoting fairness, safety, and common sense in federally funded programs and services,” Fleischer said.
Conclusion
Trump’s executive order reaffirms a commitment to biological/biblical truth and sex-based rights, addressing longstanding concerns about the impact of gender ideology on women, children, and parental authority. For California, it serves as both a warning and an opportunity to realign policies with biological realities. As the state grapples with these changes, families, students, and women’s advocates should be empowered to challenge practices that conflict with the Bible, science, fairness, and parental rights. The executive order is a call to restore order, truth, and integrity to public policy across America.
