KANSAS CITY, Mo. — President Donald Trump wasted no time signing a slew of executive orders after he was sworn into office on Monday.
One of the early orders Trump announced during his inaugural speech would declare the United States only recognizes two sexes, male and female.
The signed order for "defending women from gender ideology extremism and restoring biological truth to the federal government" states sex refers to a person's biological classification as male or female.
"As of [Monday], it will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, male and female," Trump said during his address.
A separate order is expected to halt diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs within the federal government.
The roll backs on protective measures for transgender people and DEI programs are not new, but now seemingly a focus for the Trump administration.
Local LGBTQ+ advocate and founder of Queer Connect KC explained the orders are frustrating.
"These new rollbacks will take us back to situations where we don't have as much representation in government," Lance Pierce said. "People are struggling, specifically our trans community, and these new pieces of legislation are going to continue to make that more difficult."
Over the last few months, universities, businesses and government agencies have started to remove DEI programs in Missouri, Kansas and states nationwide. But now with President Trump's executive orders, those roll backs are expected to become more widespread throughout the country.
"Diversity and inclusion programs play a really important role in changing that trajectory and introducing new people to the table and new opportunities," Pierce said. "I think that's a really key changing point that's going to be a sticking point for this community, at least."
It's unclear what the future of DEI programs will looks like but we do know there have been pieces of legislation in both Missouri and Kansas stopping state dollars to go to these intitiatives.
KSHB 41 News reached out to several republican lawmakers on both sides of the state line for a comment but we have not heard back.
"With Queer Connect KC, we're just going to continue what we do and provide a supportive community for folks to come together and find their community," Pierce said.
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KSHB 41 reporter Isabella Ledonne covers issues surrounding government accountability and solutions. Share your story with Isabella.