LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Some of the first executive orders signed by President Donald Trump affect those who identify as LGBTQ+, which advocates described as a move in the wrong direction.


What You Need To Know

  • President Donald Trump signed around two dozen executive orders on his first day in office

  • Among them is an order that favors biological sex over gender identity

  • Trump also rescinded many Joe Biden-era orders that provided protections for LGBTQ+ people

  • The president also reversed an order allowing transgender people from serving in the military

“How sad and unfortunate, I mean, that a president on his first day in office would choose to attack arguably the smallest community in America,” said Chris Hartman, executive director of the Fairness Campaign.

One order signed Monday is titled, "Defending women from gender ideology extremism and restoring biological truth to the federal government." Among other things, it said gender identity “does not provide a meaningful basis for identification and cannot be recognized as a replacement for sex.”

“This executive order that President Trump has signed can begin to basically make it OK again for someone to say that a man is a man and a woman is a woman,” said Nick Spencer, policy director for the Family Foundation, a conservative lobbying organization supporting Trump's actions. 

The same order also rescinds housing discrimination protections for LGBTQ+ people put in place under former President Joe Biden's administration.

Hartman said he believes this order and others are an attack on the LGBTQ+ community.

“100%,” Hartman said. “Sad and desperate attack on our community just because we exist.”

Trump also took action on other subjects, including:

  • rollback of diversity, equity and inclusion programs on the federal level
  • Rescissions of multiple Biden-era anti-discrimination directives
  • A reversal of an order that lets openly transgender individuals serve in the military

“If you're undergoing hormone replacement therapy, if you're having these sorts of surgeries, to cut off healthy body parts, well in the definition of the United States military, you are non-deployable,” Spencer said. “You cannot be deployed to combat zones, to protect the United States and our interests abroad.”

As for the impact these actions will have in Kentucky, it’s expected the state legislature will move to eliminate DEI initiatives at public colleges and universities, which is something they failed to get across the finish line last year.

“Trans people aren't going anywhere," Hartman said. "LGBTQ+ Kentuckians aren't going anywhere.“Trans people aren't going anywhere," Hartman said. "LGBTQ+ Kentuckians aren't going anywhere. And when I talk to Kentucky Republicans, these aren't the issues they care about."

"They care about the economy and continuing to grow it like it has under the leadership of both Gov. Andy Beshear and the Republican-led legislature.”

The Family Foundation said they would support legislation that mirrors what President Trump has stated in these executive orders.

“For those who say that President Trump is hostile to the LGBT(Q+) community, well, they only have to look at someone like Scott Bessent and his nomination (for Treasury Secretary) to say that President Trump is not really being hostile to that community,” Spencer said.

Some of Trump's executive orders are already seeing legal challenges, including his attempt to end birthright citizenship.