President Donald Trump plans to restrict gender ideology in schools with a new executive order aimed at ending what he calls “radical indoctrination.” The order bans federal funds from being used to promote “radical gender ideology” in kindergarten through 12th grade education.

“In recent years… parents have witnessed schools indoctrinate their children in radical, anti-American ideologies while deliberately blocking parental oversight,” the order states.

The order mandates that federal civil rights laws against sex and race discrimination be applied to ensure schools don’t promote or subsidize gender or equity ideologies in curriculum, teacher training or activities.

The order also threatens to cut funding from schools that support or hide a student’s “social transition,” including staff involvement or concealing it from parents.

“In other instances, young men and women are made to question whether they were born in the wrong body and whether to view their parents and their reality as enemies to be blamed,” the order continued. “These practices not only erode critical thinking but also sow division, confusion, and distrust, which undermine the very foundations of personal identity and family unity.”

The order cites examples such as a Virginia school district requiring teachers to use students’ preferred names and pronouns, and a Wisconsin district allegedly working to “disrupt the gender binary.”

While campaigning, Trump promised to cut federal spending on his first day in office “for any school pushing critical race theory, transgender insanity, and other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content on our children.”

The federal government covers about 11% of public school funding, with most of the money coming from state and local sources. The order used the federal definition of schools, meaning public education, not private schools.

The Human Rights Campaign responds

The Human Rights Campaign’s president, Kelley Robinson, posted a statement on Facebook, which reads in part: “All students deserve to feel safe and welcome in school. But this new administration is making it clear they want to dictate to children, their parents, and educators what they can read, what they can learn, what they can say, and who they can be. They want to limit the ability to talk about the very existence of LGBTQ+ people in our schools and keep all our children from being taught an honest, accurate history of our nation.”

What comes next?

The order directs the education secretary to submit a plan to the president within 90 days on ending “indoctrination” in kindergarten through 12th grade schools.

It also directs the U.S. attorney general to work with state and local prosecutors to take action against teachers or school officials “who sexually exploit minors or practice medicine without a license through ‘social transition’ practices.”