President Donald Trump wasted no time in outlining his new policies in his inauguration speech.
On Monday, Trump was inaugurated as the 47th president of the United States (he previously served as the 45th president as well, with Joe Biden succeeding him as 46th).
Among the plans he addressed in his speech: “This week, I will also end the government policy of trying to socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life. We will forge a society that is color-blind and merit-based. As of today, It will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, male and female.”
The following day, early on Tuesday, the American Civil Liberties Union responded with a statement.
“Our advocates have been preparing for this moment and overnight have already begun to fight the administration’s extreme agenda,” the ACLU told The Hollywood Reporter. “While we know this president will issue orders with real, dire consequences on people here and abroad, many of his declarations do not and cannot change the law but instead are designed to engender chaos and confusion. We must remain vigilant but resist echoing and amplifying his cruel and violent rhetoric.”
Several voices out of Hollywood also shared their immediate reactions to Trump’s promises of sweeping change.
Mayim Bialik posted her thoughts on Facebook. “Yes I watched the inauguration,” she wrote. “There’s a lot I want to say but am not saying. For now, what I do want to say is the following: To all of my friends and family and citizens of the world who do not identify as male or female, I love you and I see you and I believe that you have a right to exist.”
Jamie Lee Curtis, who has a transgender daughter, shared a poem by Loryn Brantz titled Inauguration 2025 that reads, in part: “In times like this, joy is an act of resistance. Resist. Resist. Resist.”
Trump’s speech reflected his plan to roll back protections for transgender people and terminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs within the federal government. Both are major shifts for the federal policy and are in line with Trump’s campaign trail promises.
One order would declare that the federal government would recognize only two immutable sexes: male and female. And they’re to be defined based on whether people are born with eggs or sperm, rather than on their chromosomes, according to details of the upcoming order. Under the order, federal prisons and shelters for migrants and rape victims would be segregated by sex as defined by the order. And federal taxpayer money could not be used to fund “transition services.”
A separate order halts DEI programs, directing the White House to identify and end them within the government.
Trump has promised numerous other executive orders and began signing them on Monday. So far, he has repealed dozens of Biden’s actions, began his immigration crackdown, withdrew the U.S. from the Paris climate accords and sought to keep TikTok open in the U.S. He also pardoned hundreds of people for their roles in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Also on Monday, the Trump administration is also seeking to end birthright citizenship. On Monday, the administration was sued by several groups, including the ACLU. The lawsuit “charges the Trump administration with flouting the Constitution’s dictates, congressional intent and longstanding Supreme Court precedent.”
This is a developing story.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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