The White House has reaffirmed the United States government’s recognition of only male and female genders, days after voters in four states backed measures restricting transgender athletes’ participation in female school sports.
The administration restated the position in a post on its official X account on November 6, declaring that “only two genders: male & female” remained official government policy.
The statement did not announce any new executive order or agency action, but renewed attention on President Donald Trump’s policy amid ongoing disputes over transgender rights in the country.
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Voters in Arizona, Colorado, Nebraska and Washington recently approved measures limiting transgender athletes’ participation in female school sports. Colorado also backed a measure banning certain gender-related surgeries for minors.
Trump established the federal government’s two-sex policy through an executive order signed on January 20, 2025, directing the United States to recognise only male and female sexes.
The order described the policy as “grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality” and defined sex as an immutable biological classification.
It also directed government agencies to ensure that official identification documents, including passports and visas, reflected biological sex, while federal forms requesting sex information were restricted to male and female options.
The administration subsequently extended the policy through other agencies. In April, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services updated its policy manual to recognise only two biological sexes.
A Department of Homeland Security official described the position as “simple biological reality”.
The policy reversed a change introduced under former President Joe Biden’s administration, which in 2022 allowed an “X” gender marker on passports and other identification documents.
However, the policy has faced legal opposition from civil rights groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union.
ACLU attorney Harper Seldin described Trump’s initial executive order as a plan to “erase transgender people’s existence under the law”.
Another ACLU lawyer, Chase Strangio, argued that the executive orders “do not and cannot change the law”.
The administration and its supporters maintain that the policy restores a biological definition of sex in federal law and government practice.
The White House’s latest statement has not clarified whether it will lead to further regulatory changes, as legal challenges to the underlying policy continue.
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