PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Devon Westhill Wednesday, January 22, 2025 (352) 444-0785
(Washington, D.C) The Trump administration has issued a bevy of executive actions within the first 48 hours of Donald J. Trump taking office. Several of these actions involve issues the Center for Equal Opportunity (CEO) has been active for many years including racially preferential treatment, gender ideology, and merit-based, colorblind equal opportunity.
In his inaugural address, President Trump indicated he would this week “end the government policy of trying to socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life.” He continued, “[w]e will forge a society that is colorblind and merit based.”
• Initial Recissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions
This action immediately repealed both Biden administration executive orders 13985, Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government, and 14035, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility in the Federal Workforce. These executive orders were catalysts for what President Joe Biden called his “whole-of-government equity agenda.”
• Ending Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing
The principal thrust of this action is to order the elimination of all initiatives and offices related to DEI and equity based programs including equity action plans, grants, contracts, and training. Requirements pursuant to this order shall be completed within 60 days.
• Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth in the Federal Government
The core purpose of this action is to establish as the official policy of the United States that there are only two sexes, male and female. An effect of this action is to reverse a yearslong development, reaching a peak in the years of the Biden administration, to imbed gender identity ideology into federal law and policy such as in Title IX regulations.
• Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity
This action rescinds Executive Order 11246 (1965) that required federal contractors to create affirmative action plans and to establish race goals and timetables in their hiring practices. The Order was subsequently amended (2014) to prohibit discrimination on the bases of sexual orientation and gender identity. The Order has been enforced by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs at the Department of Labor and is the chief enforcement mechanism for affirmative action among private employers who are government contractors. The new Executive Order issued by President Trump requires the Attorney General and Secretary of Education to provide guidance in complying with the Supreme Court’s prohibition on race-based preferences.
The actions listed here contain many other provisions and these are only a sample of numerous other actions which overlap with CEO’s areas of interest. The Trump administration timeframe is swift, requiring some actions be taken immediately while all others must be completed no more than 120 days from the date of the orders.
The breadth of actions by the new administration is astonishing. Many of the actions being taken have been key targets of CEO for decades. We look forward to reviewing and monitoring all the changes taking place and the federal agencies’ compliance with them.
–30–
1054 31st Street, NW, Suite 330 • Washington, D.C. 20007 • (202) 886-2000 • www.ceousa.org
