President Donald Trump signed a broad executive order to prohibit schools that receive federal funding from providing what the administration describes as “gender ideology and discriminatory equity ideology” in the classroom.
The executive order on “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling,” which Trump signed Wednesday, also directs the incoming attorney general to work alongside state attorneys general and local district attorneys to “file appropriate actions against K-12 teachers and school officials who violate the law by: sexually exploiting minors; unlawfully practicing medicine … without the requisite license; or otherwise unlawfully facilitating the social transition of a minor.”
The order further calls to restore the 1776 Commission, an advisory committee that Trump established during his first term to promote “patriotic education” around early American history.
Social transition is not a medical procedure. It refers to when a person is able to live publicly as their gender identity and often includes using or trying out a new name, set of pronouns, clothing and hairstyles.
The order explicitly targets schools that allow transgender students to use bathrooms or participate in school sports that align with their gender identity.
A 2022 studyshowed that disregard for trans students’ gender identity by teachers, school personnel, administrators, and peers had a negative impact on trans students’ mental health.
Transgender students are significantly more likely to report being bullied or physically harmed at school compared with their cisgender classmates, and in turn are at greater risk of negative educational outcomes.
LGBTQ+ advocates say the order could have widespread implications, including censoring discussion of LGBTQ-related topics in schools.
“It is intended to scare teachers away from supporting transgender students by making it seem as though that is somehow connected to sexually exploiting a student or unlawfully practicing medicine. Of course there’s absolutely no basis to any such claim,” Shannon Minter, the legal director at the National Center for Lesbian Rights, wrote in a statement.
“This is nothing but an empty threat designed to intimidate teachers and further stigmatize and demean transgender people,” he added.
Over the past three years, Republican state officials have championed legislation under the guise of “parental rights” to prevent teachers from being required to use pronouns for students that don’t correspond to their sex, and to force educators to notify parents if a student identifies as transgender or gender-nonconforming.
Many of these state-level bills mirror Florida’s 2022 “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which had an immediate chilling effect in schools as teachers were instructed to remove LGBTQ+ pride flags, safe space stickers, and photos of same-sex partners.
Earlier this week, Trump signed a flurry of other executive orders that target trans rights. On Tuesday, he signed an order to stop hospitals and clinics from providing gender-affirming care to young people up to age 19 or risk losing federal funding. He also signed an order barring transgender people from enlisting in or receiving gender-affirming care in the military. Several trans service members sued the Trump administration, alleging the ban violates the equal protection clause of the Constitution.
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On his first day in office, Trump signed a sweeping order declaring there are only “two sexes, male and female” and redefining sex discrimination protections. The order has already had immediate effects including the State Department suspending passport applications with an “X” marker and federal prisons removing trans women from women’s facilities.
The order states that the education secretary, defense secretary, and health and human services secretary will formulate a strategy to “end indoctrination” in elementary and high schools within 90 days of the order’s signing.
Wednesday’s order is part of a series of orders to dramatically upend education across the country. Another order would expand school choice initiatives and private school vouchers, and satisfy a long-standing goal for conservatives who say that public schools are too laden with liberal values. A third order would direct the Department of Justice to investigate antisemitism on college and university campuses after last year’s wave of pro-Palestinian protests.