➤ President Donald Trump signed an order saying that the US will only recognize “two sexes, male and female”.
On January 20, US President Donald Trump signed an order saying that the US will only recognize “two sexes, male and female”. The order could make life much harder for transgender and non-binary people in the US.
When a person is born, doctors decide whether they are “male” or “female” based on what their body looks like. This decision is called the sex of the baby. As the child grows up, their feelings about themselves may change. They might identify as male, female, or neither (non-binary). This is known as gender identity.
Starting in 2022, people have been able to change their gender on US government documents, like passports. Some people have chosen the new “X” option, which is meant for people who are non-binary or who do not want to be identified by their gender.
Mr. Trump’s order says that the government will only recognize the two sexes. The order says that government papers must show a person’s sex, not their gender. That means that trans and non-binary people will no longer be able to choose how they are identified on important government documents.
Mr. Trump’s order only applies to the US government. Some states already have rules against changing a person’s sex or gender on government documents, but many other states allow it.
The order has upset many people, and is likely to make life harder for the roughly 1% of the people in the US who identify as trans and non-binary.
Mr. Trump has also signed other orders designed to keep transgender people out of the US military.