”It is the policy of the United States to recognize two sexes, male and female.” “‘Female’ means a person belonging, at conception, to the sex that produces the large reproductive cell.”

Those are statements from President Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order titled “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.” In addition to making various declaration about sex in humans — that it is immutable, binary, and based on whether an individual produces large or small reproductive cells (eggs or sperm) — the order also set out new policies, such as limiting sex markers on federal documents to “the holder’s sex” (either “M” or “F”), removing “nonbinary” marker options like “X” on passports, and forbidding the alteration of birth certificates to reflect gender identity.

For many, these words churned up dread, anger, and fear that they would lose identity-based rights and freedoms. For others, it was a relief — a return to what they saw as biological reality in federal policy.

Continue reading in The Boston Globe.