NWLC Reacts to Trump’s Day One Executive Orders Attacking Women, LGBTQIA+ Community, and Immigrants
WASHINGTON, DC — On day one of his presidency, Donald Trump signed a range of executive orders intended to threaten the rights and humanity of women, the LGBTQIA+ community, and immigrants.
One of the orders he signed seeks to narrowly define sex, posing a direct threat to transgender, intersex, and nonbinary people. Another order seeks to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion programs within the federal government that have helped hire a workforce to best respond to the needs of all people in the United States.
Trump also signed a range of regressive, lawless, and cruel immigration orders that would have an outsized impact on women and children. These actions are at odds with federal law and only confirm his attempts to implement his extreme Project 2025 agenda.
Fatima Goss Graves, president and CEO of the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC), responded to the actions with the following statement:
“As he promised throughout his campaign, President Trump used his first day in office to unleash a sweeping, cruel attempt to dismantle the rights of women, Black people, people of color, immigrants, and the LGBQTIA+ community.
“Let’s be clear that these executive orders cannot create or change our laws, only Congress and the Supreme Court can do that. Discrimination based on sex, including discrimination against transgender, nonbinary, and intersex people, remains illegal, and it cannot be legalized through this executive order.
“Nor can his actions erase trans individuals. Transgender people will continue to exist even in the face of these cruel executive actions. As these attacks continue to be waged, we will never stop fighting to protect the humanity and rights of women and all other affected communities.”
On limiting the definition of sex:
“Donald Trump’s executive order seeks to narrowly define sex in order to target transgender, nonbinary, and intersex people for mistreatment and discrimination. While the order allegedly attempts to protect women and girls, its deceitful language hides its real intent — to threaten any woman or girl who doesn’t conform to sex-based stereotypes, opening them up to scrutiny and invasive privacy violations to confirm her gender.”
On eliminating diversity, equity, and inclusion programs:
“The executive order to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in the federal government will make it harder to hire the workforce that is needed to ensure that our country’s diverse populations are represented at the highest levels of government, and runs the risk of increasing the discrimination and harassment that these workers face. These programs are intended to ensure that everyone with skills and talent has a fair shot at succeeding — not just those who share the same background as their boss or the well connected.”