President Trump Signs Executive Order Defining Male and Female

After President Trump’s inauguration on Monday, he signed a variety of executive orders, including one titled, “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.” The order specifically states that “It is the policy of the United States to recognize two sexes, male and female.”

Yes, there are only two sexes in humans—male and female. This is a clear biblical truth (Genesis 1:27), and, of course, it’s confirmed by common sense and by science.

Biologically speaking, males have XY chromosomes and females have XX, and that cannot be changed by feelings (which can’t be trusted because of man’s sinful heart) or by surgery or hormones. Observational science confirms the biblical truth of male and female!

Here is a quote from that executive order, including a definition of male and female that “shall govern all Executive interpretation of and application of Federal law and administration policy.”

It is the policy of the United States to recognize two sexes, male and female. These sexes are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality. . .

(a) “Sex” shall refer to an individual’s immutable biological classification as either male or female. “Sex” is not a synonym for and does not include the concept of “gender identity.”

(b) “Women” or “woman” and “girls” or “girl” shall mean adult and juvenile human females, respectively.

(c) “Men” or “man” and “boys” or “boy” shall mean adult and juvenile human males, respectively.

(d) “Female” means a person belonging, at conception, to the sex that produces the large reproductive cell.

(e) “Male” means a person belonging, at conception, to the sex that produces the small reproductive cell.

This is good news for women’s safety, dignity, and well-being. Women will now be protected from men masquerading as women in federal prisons and in their private spaces; federal funds will no longer sponsor so-called sex-change surgeries for inmates; and children are protected from federal dollars funding the spread of gender ideology.

But despite all the good news, I am disappointed to see, in statements like what you’ll read below, that the federal government is still recognizing gender identity as distinct from sex. But they are the same thing: your sex is your gender. Consider this quote from the order:

“Gender identity” reflects a fully internal and subjective sense of self, disconnected from biological reality and sex and existing on an infinite continuum, that does not provide a meaningful basis for identification and cannot be recognized as a replacement for sex.

This whole idea that your feelings are your “gender”—your identity and who you “really are”—comes from the idea that humans are our own creators, that we determine truth and that we can define truth for ourselves. But we aren’t self-made people, we were created by God as either male or female, in his image.

We aren’t self-made people, we were created by God as either male or female, in his image.

This order from President Trump comes on the heels of another piece of good news, a decision by the House to protect women’s sports. The bill that passed the House (and will now go to the Senate) “ensures that women are protected in female sports that are operated, sponsored or facilitated by a recipient of federal funding.” In other words, only girls can play on girls’ teams that receive federal funding—a pretty common-sense ruling!

In support of this ruling, House Speaker Mike Johnson actually quoted from Genesis, “We know from Scripture and from nature that men are men and women are women and men cannot become women. . . . It goes back to the first book, Genesis. . . ‘Male and female He made them.’” Yes, the answers to questions regarding male and female are found in Genesis! Everything goes back to Genesis. Genesis 1–11 is the foundation for everything.

Let’s praise God for this good news regarding gender ideology and continue to pray for the new administration, that they would allow God’s Word to shape their policies and decisions and that they would do the right thing, even when it’s hard.

Get More Answers on Answers News

This item was discussed Monday on Answers News with cohosts Dr. Marisa Tillery, Patricia Engler, and Bryan Osborne. Answers News is our weekly news program filmed live before a studio audience here at the Creation Museum, broadcast on our Answers in Genesis YouTube channel, and posted to Answers TV. We also covered the following topics:

• Richard Dawkins fights with other secularists.
• Do Florida lizards show evolution in action?
• Could Lucy walk upright?
• And more!

Be sure to join us each Wednesday at 2 p.m. (ET) on YouTube or later that day on Answers TV for Answers News. You won’t want to miss this unique news program that gives science and culture news from a distinctly biblical and Christian perspective.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken

This item was written with the assistance of AiG’s research team.