Trump order recognizes only two sexes. Advocates call it 'cruel,' 'lawless.'

WASHINGTON ? More than 175 organizations that advocate for women’s and transgender rights released a letter Tuesday blasting President Donald Trump’s requirement that federal agencies recognize only two sexes, male and female.

In the letter, first reported by USA TODAY, the groups called the policy outlined in his Inauguration Day executive order “cruel’’ and “lawless.’’

The administration says the order defends women, but advocates said in the letter that it could put people in harm’s way by spreading disinformation and lead to harassment of people in the transgender and other communities.

“We know that the true intent of this order is to demonize, stigmatize, and discriminate against transgender, nonbinary, and intersex people and to enforce gender roles and gender stereotypes,’’ they wrote in the letter. “It is appalling you wage these attacks in the name of "defending women," and particularly because of your repeated attacks on women's rights.”

Among those signing the letter are the National Women’s Law Center, which led the effort, the Bayard Rustin Center for Social Justice, the Florida National Organization for Women, the National Council of Jewish Women, the Transgender Law Center, the Mississippi Black Women’s Roundtable, MomsRising and dozens more.

The ideological debate over sexual identity and transgender rights has been one of the issues at the heart of Trump’s presidential campaign and the conservative movement. Trump had pledged to push for a law banning gender-affirming care for minors and to keep boys out of girls' sports.

What the order says

Trump officials have highlighted what they call the benefits of the order.

“My administration will defend women’s rights and protect freedom of conscience by using clear and accurate language and policies that recognize women are biologically female, and men are biologically male,’’ the executive order reads.

It said the government will recognize two sexes: male and female. “These sexes are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality.’’

Among the sections in the order, the secretary of the federal Department of Health and Human Services will have 30 days to provide guidance on expanding the sex-based definitions.

The executive order rescinds supports that have been added to schools, federal workplaces and other federal properties for people who identify that way and protects the "right" to single-sex spaces.

It also argues that the Biden administration's interpretation of a 2020 Supreme Court ruling was inappropriate, "legally untenable and has harmed women."

This suggests legal challenges may soon follow.

Advocates say it makes already vulnerable people more vulnerable

Meanwhile, the advocates and others argue anti-trans rhetoric and stereotypes and disinformation could heighten tensions between groups.

“The safety of all women and girls indeed depends on reaffirming that transgender women and girls are treated with equal dignity,’’ they wrote. “We are not fooled by your administration’s attempts to undermine transgender people’s rights, as an invitation to perpetuate wider attacks on sex discrimination protections for everyone.”

Separately, some experts said science shows the issue can be more complex.

Alice Dreger, a historian of science and an expert in sex and gender, said she's concerned about what will happen to trans people who have lived a certain way for decades and for people who are "intersex" ? born with genetics and biology that doesn't allow them to fit neatly into either "male" or "female" categories.

"There are folks for whom this (categorization) simply won't work," Dreger said, noting that every culture in the world and across time includes people who don't act according to gender stereotypes.

A 2022 survey found that 1.6% of all U.S. adults and 5.1% of adults under 30 identify as transgender, meaning their gender identity does not correspond with the sex registered for them at birth, or nonbinary, meaning they don't identify as either male or female.

Ignoring the existence of these people "is not just denying of reality," Dreger said, "it's gaslighting the entire nation."

From a biological perspective, someone's gender identity can differ from their genetic sex or the sex organs they have, said Elvisha Dhamala, an expert in the neurobiology of human behavior at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research in New York. In her research, she has shown that sex and gender are encoded in different parts of the brain.

Society already makes life very difficult for people whose gender identities don't conform to male-female norms, so "no one is actively choosing to go out and make their life more difficult," Dhamala said. "They're just trying to navigate the world and the society to the best of their abilities."

In their letter, the advocates said transgender, nonbinary and intersex people, including women and girls, deserve the same basic rights and respect as everyone else.

“We will not let this executive order deter us from fighting for the rights of all women,’’ they wrote. “We will strive to ensure that this executive order, the cruel policies it proposes, and the false narrative it tells about our rights will not last.’’

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Contributing: Karissa Waddick and Karen Weintraub

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump exec order IDs two sexes. Advocates see that as a threat.