Within 24 hours of taking office, President Donald Trump issued two executive orders to end diversity, equity and inclusion programs in the federal government and to target LGBTQ+ rights.
In June of 2021, former President Joe Biden signed an executive order saying the federal government should have a workforce that reflects the diversity of the American people.
Some of the DEI efforts during the Biden administration included diversity officers, employee resource groups, targeted recruitment to underserved communities, internships, fellowships and mentorships.
The federal government under the Biden administration had also emphasized recruiting candidates from underserved groups such as people of color, the LGBTQ+ community, veterans and military spouses, pregnant people and parents, people living in poverty and rural areas, and those formerly incarcerated.
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Trump signs executive order targeting DEI programs in federal government
On Monday, President Trump announced an end to diversity initiatives during his inaugural address, which happened to be on the same day as MLK Day. During his speech, he said he believed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would have wanted Americans to be treated based on character, not skin color through the policy.
Greg Carr, an Afro-American studies professor at Howard University, disagreed with the comparison.
"The room that we just saw Donald Trump sworn in is a room that doesn't reflect the United States of America or the world, and that is absolutely diametrically opposed to the vision of Martin Luther King Jr.," Carr said.
On Monday, some people voiced concern about removing DEI programs from employment opportunities at an MLK Day rally.
"It gives you opportunities," one woman said. "Just because you come from the bottom, that don't mean that you still can't rise up to the top. But we need programs like this to help us along the way."
The American Federation of Government Employees National's President Everett Kelley put out a statement on Tuesday, saying that the programs help build a government that "looks like the diverse population it serves" and undoing the programs will "undermine the merit-based civil service."
“The federal government has the lowest gender and racial pay gaps of all employers, precisely because employment decisions are made based on one’s ability to do the work and not on where they went to school or who they supported in the last election," Kelley said in the statement.
Trump signs executive order targeting sex and gender
The other executive order signed by Trump on Monday centered on sex and gender.

"It will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, male and female," Trump said in his inaugural address.
According to Trump administration officials, passports and visas must reflect sex accurately based on a person's reproductive cells. It is unclear how the administration will be able to enforce the policy.
As of April 2022, U.S. citizens were able to select an X as their gender marker on their US passport application.
The new policy also calls for no taxpayer funds to be used for gender transition healthcare and privacy in single-sex spaces like prisons and migrant and rape shelters.
It is unknown how the policy would affect transgender or nonbinary people who have already changed their designation on a document like a passport and if they would be forced to change their passports.
The policy also doesn't give clear direction on how this would impact intersex people who are born with anatomy that doesn't fit into a biological male or female binary.
The Department of Homeland Security told News4 to contact the White House and the Trump transition team has not responded yet.
Large companies in the U.S. pulling back on DEI goals and initiatives
Companies within the last year have been slowly dissolving DEI programs.
Meta announced in January that it would be ending a number of internal DEI programs specifically used to increase the company's hiring of diverse candidates.
Amazon said it was halting some of its DEI programs because the company is in the process of "winding down outdated programs and materials."
Other companies like Walmart and McDonald's also pulled back on DEI initiatives in recent months.