This NAFSA page collects links and information on Executive Actions under the Trump-Vance Administration touching on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) gender. These orders represent a significant shift in federal policies related to DEI and gender issues, emphasizing "traditional" definitions of sex and gender, and rolling back previous initiatives aimed at promoting diversity, equity and inclusion.
Executive Order 14151 of January 20, 2025: Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing.
EO on whitehouse.gov | Federal Register cite: 90 FR 8339 (January 29, 2025).
Executive Order 14151 may impact federal funding, grant eligibility, and hiring policies related to DEI initiatives in federally supported programs. This order requires the Director of 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 "diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility” (DEIA) mandates, policies, programs, preferences, and activities in the Federal Government, under whatever name they appear." It also requires agencies to, within 60 days:
- "terminate, to the maximum extent allowed by law, all DEI, DEIA, and “environmental justice” offices and positions (including but not limited to 'Chief Diversity Officer' positions); all 'equity action plans,' 'equity' actions, initiatives, or programs, 'equity-related' grants or contracts; and all DEI or DEIA performance requirements for employees, contractors, or grantees";
- provide OMB with a list of:
- all agency or department DEI, DEIA, or 'environmental justice' positions, committees, programs, services, activities, budgets, and expenditures in existence on November 4, 2024, and an assessment of whether these positions, committees, programs, services, activities, budgets, and expenditures have been misleadingly relabeled in an attempt to preserve their pre-November 4, 2024 function";
- "Federal contractors who have provided DEI training or DEI training materials to agency or department employees";
- and "Federal grantees who received Federal funding to provide or advance DEI, DEIA, or “environmental justice” programs, services, or activities since January 20, 2021"
- direct the deputy agency or department head to assess operational impacts and recommend actions regarding DEI, DEIA, and environmental justice programs, positions, and policies.
Executive Order 14168 of January 20, 2025: Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism And Restoring Biological Truth To The Federal Government.
EO on whitehouse.gov | Federal Register cite: 90 FR 8615 (January 30, 2025).
Executive Order 14168 mandates that federal departments recognize gender strictly as a male-female binary determined by biological sex assigned at conception. It requires the replacement of all instances of "gender" with "sex" in official materials, cessation of funding for gender-affirming care, and prohibits transgender individuals from using single-sex federally funded facilities that align with their gender identity.
The order also has provisions impacting language and categories on government forms, records, and documents:
"The Secretaries of State and Homeland Security, and the Director of the Office of Personnel Management, shall implement changes to require that government-issued identification documents, including passports, visas, and Global Entry cards, [emphasis added] accurately reflect the holder’s sex, as defined under section 2 of this order; and the Director of the Office of Personnel Management shall ensure that applicable personnel records accurately report Federal employees’ sex, as defined by section 2 of this order."
Note: News sources have reported that Secretary of State Rubio has already issued an internal communication to passport office staff to halt processing of U.S. passport applications requesting a gender marker of "X" pursuant to Executive Order 14168. NOTUS reported that "The White House told NOTUS that Monday’s executive order is not retroactive and does not invalidate old passports. However, if government-issued documents need to be renewed, they must reflect the person’s sex assigned at birth." See: González, Oriana. 2025. "Trump’s Gender Order Won’t Affect Existing Passports - Unless They’re Renewed." NOTUS, January 21. https://www.notus.org/whitehouse/trump-gender-sex-order-passports.
This will impact the content of NAFSA's X Gender Marker Passport Advising Resource.
Executive Order 14173 of January 21, 2025: Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity.
EO on whitehouse.gov | Federal Register cite: 90 FR 8633 (January 31, 2025).
Executive Order 14173 revokes several previous executive orders promoting DEI initiatives, including Executive Order 11246, which had prohibited federal contractors from engaging in employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or national origin. Executive Order 14173 also
- Directs all executive departments and agencies "to terminate all discriminatory and illegal preferences, mandates, policies, programs, activities, guidance, regulations, enforcement actions, consent orders, and requirements. I further order all agencies to enforce our longstanding civil-rights laws and to combat illegal private-sector DEI preferences, mandates, policies, programs, and activities."
- Requires every agency to "include in every contract or grant award... A term requiring such counterparty or recipient to certify that it does not operate any programs promoting DEI that violate any applicable Federal anti-discrimination laws"
- Requires the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs within the Department of Labor to immediately cease: "(A) Promoting “diversity”; (B) Holding Federal contractors and subcontractors responsible for taking “affirmative action”; and (C) Allowing or encouraging Federal contractors and subcontractors to engage in workforce balancing based on race, color, sex, sexual preference, religion, or national origin."
Executive Order 14190 of January 29, 2025: Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling.
EO on whitehouse.gov | Federal Register cite: 90 FR 8853 (January 29, 2025).
This order threatens to withdraw federal funding from any school that recognizes a child's gender transition, including name or pronoun changes. It aims to prevent what the administration describes as "radical gender ideology" in educational settings, emphasizing a return to "traditional" gender norms.
Executive Order 14183 of January 27, 2025: Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness.
EO on whitehouse.gov | Federal Register cite: 90 FR 8757 (February 3, 2025).
Executive Order 14183, opines that "expressing a false 'gender identity' divergent from an individual's sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service" and asserts that accommodating gender identities divergent from an individual's biological sex is inconsistent with military readiness and unit cohesion. Utilizing the same definitions set forth in Executive Order 14168 of January 20, 2025, Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government, EO 14183 directs the Secretary of Defense (DoD) to:
- Update its Medical Standards for Military Service to conform to
- Promptly issue directives for DoD "to end invented and identification-based pronoun usage to best achieve the policy"
- "Absent extraordinary operational necessity, the Armed Forces shall neither allow males to use or share sleeping, changing, or bathing facilities designated for females, nor allow females to use or share sleeping, changing, or bathing facilities designated for males."
- Implement full revocation of President Biden's Executive Order 14004 of January 25, 2021, Enabling All Qualified Americans To Serve Their Country in Uniform. by rescinding all policies, directives, and guidance issued pursuant to that prior executive order.
Executive Order 14187 of January 28, 2025: Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation.
EO on whitehouse.gov | Federal Register cite: 90 FR 8633 (January 31, 2025).
Executive Order 14187 threatens federal funding withdrawal from any medical institution that provides gender-affirming care to individuals under the age of 19. It reflects the administration's stance against gender-affirming treatments for minors, framing such care as harmful and inappropriate.
Executive Order of February 5, 2025: Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports.
Read the EO on whitehouse.gov.
This order establishes a federal enforcement framework for making eligibility to participate in women’s sports exclusively based on sex at birth, and purports to align Title IX policies with the order. Institutions receiving federal funding must comply with the order's directives to maintain eligibility for federal support. The order utilizes the same definitions set forth in Executive Order 14168 of January 20, 2025, Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government).
Title IX Enforcement and Compliance Measures
- The Department of Education must continue to comply with the court’s vacatur of the April 29, 2024, Title IX rule (89 FR 33474) and take necessary steps to prevent its effect.
- The Department must take action to protect female-only athletic opportunities and locker rooms, clarifying that women’s sports are reserved for women.
- Title IX enforcement will prioritize actions against institutions or athletic associations that allow male students to compete in women’s sports or require female athletes to share facilities with males.
- Federal funding may be rescinded for educational programs that do not comply with this policy.
Federal Government Support and Sports Policy Initiatives
- The Department of Justice is directed to allocate resources to enforce the order’s policies.
- Within 60 days, the White House Domestic Policy Office must:
- Convene representatives of athletic organizations and affected female athletes to develop fair and safe policies.
- Work with State Attorneys General to identify best practices and educate officials on cases where women and girls have been harmed by male participation in women’s sports.
International and Immigration-Related Actions
- The Department of State will:
- Withdraw U.S. support from sports programs that define female categories based on identity rather than sex.
- Advocate internationally for sex-based categories in women's sports, including through the United Nations and international athletic organizations.
- Seek amendments to International Olympic Committee standards to ensure eligibility for women’s events is based on sex, not gender identity or testosterone levels.
- The Department of Homeland Security and State Department will review and modify policies regarding the admission of males seeking to compete in women’s sports, including potential visa restrictions.