Citing 'Biological Truth,' Kennedy Issues Guidance Recognizing Only Two Sexes

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Source: New York Times

Citing 'Biological Truth,' Kennedy Issues Guidance Recognizing Only Two Sexes

The new guidance follows President Trump's demand that the Health and Human Services Department align with his executive order barring transgender athletes from women's sports.


This administration is bringing back common sense and restoring biological truth to the federal government," Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a statement. Eric Lee/The New York Times

By Sheryl Gay Stolberg
Feb. 19, 2025
Updated 6:40 p.m. ET

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced on Wednesday that the Trump administration had adopted a set of official government "sex-based definitions" to give the public and federal agencies precise terms with which to describe categories including "male," "female," "woman" and "man."

The definitions are listed in a one-page "guidance" that is aimed, in part, at keeping transgender women and girls out of female sports, discouraging gender-affirming care for young people and fulfilling President Trump's pledge that the federal government will recognize only two sexes: male and female.

"This administration is bringing back common sense and restoring biological truth to the federal government," Mr. Kennedy said in a statement. "The prior administration's policy of trying to engineer gender ideology into every aspect of public life is over."

A male is defined under the guidance as "a person of the sex characterized by a reproductive system with the biological function of producing sperm." A female is "a person of the sex characterized by a reproductive system with the biological function of producing eggs (ova)."

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Sheryl Gay Stolberg covers health policy for The Times from Washington. A former congressional and White House correspondent, she focuses on the intersection of health policy and politics. More about Sheryl Gay Stolberg
https://www.nytimes.com/by/sheryl-gay-stolberg

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/19/us/politics/rfk-jr-hhs-sex-genders.html