President Donald Trump will immediately issue executive orders that slash diversity, equity and inclusion programs and proclaim the U.S. government will only recognize two sexes - male and female - that cannot be changed, an incoming White House official said on Monday.

The official, speaking just hours before Trump was sworn in as the 47th president, added that more actions on DEI programs were expected "very soon."

"This week, I will also end the government policy of trying to socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life," Trump said in his inaugural address.

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"We will forge a society that is color blind and merit-based. ... As of today, it will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, male and female," Trump said.

The Trump administration plans to review and potentially end what the official described as "discriminatory programs," including environmental justice grants and diversity training initiatives. Full details weren't immediately revealed about the planned steps to rescind the orders or when they would be announced.

The impending DEI rollback and Trump's inauguration coincide with this year's Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday commemorating the civil rights leader.

Civil and human rights advocates and groups immediately vowed to protect minorities and challenge Trump's agenda.

"We refuse to back down or be intimidated. We are not going anywhere, and we will fight back against these harmful provisions with everything we've got," Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBTQ+ rights advocacy group in the U.S., said in a statement.

Rights advocates have said any DEI and transgender rights rollbacks implemented by Trump would be a blow to hard-fought efforts to secure equitable policies and undermine progress made to address systemic prejudices that have deprived equal opportunities for marginalized groups for decades.

"We will continue our relentless efforts to protect immigrant rights, combat voter suppression, and confront hate and discrimination in all its forms," Asian Americans Advancing Justice said in a statement.

Many corporations have distanced themselves from DEI measures, with some rolling back DEI initiatives and programs in recent weeks. Meanwhile, companies such as Costco and Apple have remained resolute in maintaining their commitment to DEI.

As part of the executive orders, federal funds will not be used to promote "gender ideology," the official said, a loose term often used by conservative groups to reference any ideology that promotes non-traditional views on sex and gender. Rights and advocacy groups view the term as an anti-LGBTQ trope and dehumanizing.

The Trump administration would only recognize two sexes, male and female, that were unchangeable, and would instruct federal employers to use the term sex and not gender, which can refer to gender norms and identity, the incoming White House official said in a background briefing.

U.S. funding will also not be used on gender transition medical procedures, the official said without providing detail.

Federal policy on transgender healthcare is largely affected by Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, that bans discrimination in healthcare on the basis of sex.

In his first term, Trump issued regulations to weaken that section, which was strengthened again under President Joe Biden.

The Trump administration also planned to limit the scope of a major victory for transgender rights under the 2020 U.S. Supreme Court ruling of Bostock v Clayton County, in which the high court found that civil rights protections against discrimination "on the basis of sex" applied to sexuality and gender identity.

The attorney general would provide explicit guidance on how to apply Bostock, the official said.

Transgender rights have become a contentious political topic in recent years. During November's election season, many Republicans campaigned on reversing transgender laws with a particular focus on transgender women participating in sports.

During a pre-inauguration rally on Sunday, Donald Trump said that he will take action to "keep all men out of women's sports."

It was not immediately clear what the executive orders would mean for the U.S. military. During his first term, Trump announced that he would ban transgender troops from serving in the military, and his administration did freeze recruitment of transgender personnel. Biden overturned that decision when he took office in 2021.

Brian Kalt, a constitutional law professor at Michigan State University, said that while presidents do have executive authority some actions that Trump has promised to enact, such as ending birthright citizenship, will "face an uphill battle in court."

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Trump rolls back DEI across the federal government. Is your workplace next?

Making good on his campaign pledge to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion across the federal government, President Donald Trump threw the weight of the White House behind growing Republican opposition to diversity measures that he says discriminate against white Americans.

The executive order signed Monday rescinds Biden administration orders that put many of the DEI apparatus in place.

"The previous administration has embedded deeply unpopular, inflationary, illegal and radical practices within every agency and office of the Federal Government. The injection of 'diversity, equity, and inclusion' (DEI) into our institutions has corrupted them by replacing hard work, merit and equality with a divisive and dangerous preferential hierarchy," the order reads.

While the executive order does not address DEI in the private sector, a White House official put corporations on notice.

“More actions” are coming “very soon,” the official said ahead of Trump’s swearing-in ceremony.

The DEI executive order coming on the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday drew condemnation from civil rights advocates who say it could undermine hard-fought gains in workplace diversity and economic opportunity for generations.

"Why do we have DEI?'' Rev. Al Sharpton, president of the National Action Network, told a crowd gathered at the Metropolitan AME Church, a historic Black church a few blocks from the White House Monday. "We have DEI because you denied us diversity, you denied us equity, you denied us inclusion. DEI was a remedy to the racial institutional bigotry practiced in academia and in these corporations."

Anti-'woke' push at center of Trump agenda

The push to end diversity initiatives began in earnest during Trump’s first term and has grown since he’s been out of office.

A top priority of right-wing foundations, think tanks and political operatives in courts and statehouses across the country and on social media, it will likely gain ground now that it is at the center of the president’s economic and cultural agenda.

In his inaugural speech, Trump vowed to combat efforts to “socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life” and "forge a society that is colorblind and merit-based."

Already companies have made sweeping changes to align themselves with the Trump administration. Last week, Amazon and Meta became the latest in a wave of companies to scale back corporate diversity programs.

“Florida, Texas and other states have already abolished DEI. Private companies, such as Meta, are following suit,” Christopher Rufo, a DEI critic and a senior fellow at the conservative-leaning think tank Manhattan Institute, told USA TODAY. “The time is now.”

Trump has stocked his administration with anti-DEI allies to help him unwind the policies of his predecessor − from Vice President JD Vance who, as an Ohio senator, introduced legislation that would prohibit government contractors from using federal funds for DEI initiatives to Trump’s deputy chief of staff for policy, Stephen Miller, who filed dozens of legal actions against “woke” corporations.

“Corporations should be focusing on doing their jobs well, creating their services and products effectively,” said Jonathan Butcher, a senior research fellow with the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank. “Laying down some ideological orthodoxy in regards to racial preferences has not made them more effective and it will not in the future.”

Will Trump Justice Department prosecute companies?

During his first term, Trump took aim at diversity initiatives that Republicans claim focus on race and gender at the expense of individual merit, using executive power to bar the federal government and government contractors from conducting racially “divisive” diversity training and starting a tip line for whistleblowers to turn in their employers.

Trump’s Labor Department also questioned whether diversity initiatives to increase the ranks of Black executives at Microsoft and Wells Fargo violated federal laws barring racial discrimination.

This time around, the Trump administration is widely expected to ban DEI in companies that depend on federal funding or hold government contracts.

With full control of Congress, Trump will likely take even more aggressive steps.

The Justice Department and other federal agencies may launch investigations and file lawsuits over corporate DEI initiatives they suspect of violating anti-discrimination laws.

Trump praised Harmeet Dhillon, the lawyer he tapped to lead the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department and a prominent figure in California GOP politics, for “suing corporations who use woke policies to discriminate against their workers.”

The Civil Rights Division was formed in 1957 to enforce laws to stop discrimination against Black people and other historically marginalized communities.

Dhillon has argued that political conservatives and white men are victims of illegal discrimination. In 2017, she represented a fired Google engineer who circulated a memo opposing the tech giant’s DEI policies. She has also represented Robby Starbuck, the anti-DEI activist.

"Every signal is being sent that they’re going to do a 180 on all these things and they’re going to begin prosecuting companies for violations of civil rights laws,” Silicon Valley venture capitalist and Trump adviser Marc Andreessen said last month.

Democrats fight DEI rollback

With anti-DEI sentiment swelling, some Democrats are mounting a resistance. They say the government-driven push to increase racial diversity in cubicles and executive suites is essential to wiping out decadeslong inequities and ensuring equal opportunity for women and people of color.

In a letter to Trump exclusively obtained, more than 30 state elected Democratic officials from around the country pledged to protect DEI. State legislatures have been ground zero for anti-DEI attacks.

“Anti-DEI rhetoric and policy goals are dangerous, destructive and discriminatory. Ultimately, they erect barriers to our American dreams,” the letter read. “As we hold ourselves accountable to defending and extending the benefits of DEI, we also hold you accountable to achieving the same goal.”

As the nation grows more diverse, businesses are working to make their workforces and leadership better reflect the communities they serve.

Proponents say DEI programs help companies hire and retain diverse talent and create environments that boost innovation.

Parity in the business world is a long way off. A USA TODAY investigation of the nation’s largest companies found that the top ranks are predominantly white and male, while women and people of color are concentrated at the lowest levels with less pay, fewer perks and comparatively little opportunity for advancement.

“DEI initiatives don’t determine who gets hired, they ensure qualified candidates have fair access to consideration,” said Noreen Farrell, a civil rights attorney and executive director of Equal Rights Advocates. “The danger of businesses, schools and government shutting the door to equal access is that they are also shutting the door to solutions and innovation.”

The Trump administration is ignoring “clear evidence” that diverse leadership yields “better business outcomes,” Farrell said.

RIP DEI in the workplace?

Since the Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling banning the consideration of race in higher education, business leaders have shored up DEI programs to make them less vulnerable to legal challenges and public criticism, backing away from initiatives like hiring targets that conservatives say are illegal quotas and from executive bonuses tied to DEI goals.

Andrea Abrams, executive director of the progressive advocacy group American Pride Rises Network, said some companies may capitulate – or appear to capitulate – but she expects most “will continue to stand firm.”

More than half of senior executives surveyed by the Conference Board said they had adjusted how they refer to DEI over the past year. Another 20% were considering doing so. A growing number have dropped mentions of diversity goals in shareholder reports.

Costco and Apple were among the companies to recently recommend that shareholders reject anti-DEI proposals, making the case that diversity initiatives are good for business.

“There is nothing illegal about being diverse, being equitable and being inclusive in what you do,” Abrams said.

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