Gender ideology is federally dead. May it rest in peace.
On Wednesday, Acting Director of the Office of Personnel Management Charles Ezell issued a memo to all heads and acting heads of federal departments and agencies outlining a series of steps that must be completed by Friday, January 31, at 5 p.m. EST, to ensure compliance with the requirements of Executive Order 14168.
Pursuant to this order, “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” signed by President Donald Trump on his first day in office, the government will recognize only two sexes, male and female. In the eyes of the government, “sex” is a biological reality that is determined at the time of conception.
Ezell’s directive laid out the following:
a. Send an email to all agency employees announcing that the agency will be complying with Defending Women and this guidance.b. Review all agency programs, contracts, and grants, and terminate any that promote or inculcate gender ideology.c. Review all agency position descriptions and send a notification to all employees whose position description involves inculcating or promoting gender ideology that they are being placed on paid administrative leave effective immediately as the agency takes steps to close/end all initiatives, offices, and programs that inculcate or promote gender ideology.d. Take down all outward facing media (websites, social media accounts, etc.) that inculcate or promote gender ideology.e. Review agency email systems such as Outlook and turn off features that prompt users for their pronouns.f. Withdraw any final or pending documents, directives, orders, regulations, materials, forms, communications, statements, and plans that inculcate or promote gender ideology.g. Cancel any trainings that inculcate or promote gender ideology or have done so in the past.h. Disband or cancel any employee resource groups or special emphasis programs that inculcate or promote gender ideology or have done so in the past.i. Review all agency forms that require entry of an individual’s sex and ensure that all list male or female only, and not gender identity. Remove requests for “gender” and substitute requests for “sex.”j. Ensure that all applicable agency policies and documents, including forms, use the term “sex” and not “gender.”k. Ensure that intimate spaces designated for women, girls, or females (or for men, boys, or males) are designated by biological sex and not gender identity.
Here are a few of the changes included in the order: the cessation of federal funding for “gender-affirming care” for prisoners, the requirement that transgender individuals be incarcerated in facilities consistent with their biological sex, and a mandate that Americans applying for new passports or renewals select either male or female on their applications.
The fact that any of these items were ever permitted is truly astounding. They stand as a testament to how thoroughly the Democratic Party has been hijacked by its left-wing faction.
One New Year’s Eve in the 1990s, I was seated on a train waiting to leave Grand Central Station when a huge man dressed as a woman moved through the car. Although he appeared oblivious to the stares and smirks from my fellow passengers, his presence created quite a stir. As he settled down in the facing seat directly across from me, I remember thinking that with his bare (and extremely hairy) midriff, he must be cold, given the freezing temperatures in the city that night.
In those unenlightened days, we called men like him cross-dressers, and it was still relatively uncommon to see them out in public.
Fast-forward to 2025, when gender confusion is portrayed as a medical condition that needs to be addressed rather than the aberration that it is. What began as empathy for the unlucky few individuals who truly believe that their sex at birth and gender identities are at odds with each other, quickly morphed into what I call “transmania” after President Joe Biden took office.
Advocates for transgenders began demanding that the rights of transgenders not only be respected but recognized legally. It didn’t take long for progressives to preach that transgenders should be celebrated as heroes by the 99.3% of us who are at peace with our biological sexes.
Anyone who dared question why gender dysphoria was suddenly hailed as a courageous lifestyle choice, rather than a mental disorder, was silenced by legacy media, which worked in close alignment with the Biden White House.
Gender ideology started to infiltrate every aspect of society, from public school classrooms to corporate boardrooms to the White House itself. Biden officials began tying themselves into knots to appease 1% of the population.
Executive Order 14168 marks the federal government’s return to sanity. These measures are crucial to ending the sheer madness that replaced common sense during the Biden administration.
Elizabeth writes commentary for The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation and a member of the Editorial Board at The Sixteenth Council, a London think tank. Please follow Elizabeth on X or LinkedIn.
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