Trump could reverse State Department, USAID’s efforts to push gender ideology, abortion
U.S. national and rainbow flags are pictured on the U.S. embassy in Moscow on June 30, 2022. / Credit: NATALIA KOLESNIKOVA/AFP via Getty Images Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 5, 2024 / 09:00 am (CNA).
After his inauguration on Jan. 20, President-elect Donald Trump could reverse the promotion of gender ideology and abortion in the Department of State (DOS) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), according to those closely watching these issues.
Under President Joe Biden’s administration, officials have used USAID and DOS to promote transgenderism and other elements of gender ideology through grants. Efforts have also been made to leverage foreign aid programs and influence international financial institutions and the United Nations to pressure countries into embracing transgenderism and gender ideology.
The administration ended policies that previously banned funding for foreign organizations that promote abortion in other countries as well.
“The Biden-Harris administration radicalized the federal bureaucracy to promote abortion and dangerous gender procedures and suppress opposition to their agenda,” Alliance Defending Freedom senior counsel Matt Bowman told CNA.
“We hope President-elect Trump’s appointed leaders will restore the rule of law, respect biological reality, and stop targeting free speech,” Bowman added.
Trump tapped Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, to serve as secretary of state, a position that requires confirmation by the Senate. The president-elect has not announced whom he will choose to lead USAID, which does need a Senate confirmation.
Rubio has been critical of what he calls “radical gender ideology” in the American health care system and the Democratic Party’s “extremism on abortion.”
Trump also plans to establish a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to identify government waste. In an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal, the two DOGE leaders indicated that funding for international groups, particularly progressive groups, will be reviewed.
Biden policies to promote gender ideology and abortion
The DOS issued a report in July that detailed tens of millions of dollars going to projects that promote “LGBTQI+ human rights.” This includes a USAID grant for the “Transformation Salon” in India “to enhance the career and entrepreneurial opportunities for the transgender community” and similar projects.
According to the report, the DOS authorized more than $ 3.2 million in small grants to 116 “LGBTQI+” organizations in 73 countries and USAID spent “more than $ 7 million to support activities … that integrate LGBTQI+ equities” and “leveraged more than $ 11 million from private philanthropy to advance the human rights of LGBTQI+ persons.”
According to the report, DOS and USAID used their influence to pressure foreign governments into adopting policies that conform to gender ideology. One of the top priorities was to put an end to “conversion therapy,” therapies that encourage people to identify with their biological sex and discourage gender transitions.
Additionally, Biden rescinded the Mexico City Policy shortly after taking office — an action that allowed federal tax dollars to go toward foreign organizations that encourage women to have abortions.
“It is the policy of my administration to support women’s and girls’ sexual and reproductive health and rights [including abortion] in the United States, as well as globally,” Biden said at the time.
On the domestic front, Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued a memorandum, obtained by The National Review, that included guidelines to discourage staff members from “misgendering” — which means using pronouns consistent with a person’s biological sex when that person self-identifies as the opposite gender — and stated that it can be “problematic” to assume someone’s gender based on his or her appearance.
How to reverse the promotion of gender ideology and abortion
Stefano Gennarini, vice president for legal studies at the Center for Family and Human Rights (C-Fam), told CNA that Trump should sign an executive order to reinstate the Mexico City Policy — which banned federal funding for overseas groups that promote abortion — and expand that ban to include the promotion of gender ideology.
“Anyone who receives U.S. funds must agree not to promote abortion and gender ideology, specifically the notion that gender is a social construct,” Gennarini said. “This is what conservative lawmakers proposed in the [President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief] reauthorization battle in Congress.”
He added that Trump could rescind every Biden order that promotes “gender ideology” and order a 30-day review of all USAID “strategies, programs, and grants to ensure they comply with the new Mexico City Policy and do not promote abortion or gender ideology.”
“All incompatible strategies, programs, and grants must be rescinded,” Gennarini continued. “Incompatible strategies, programs, and grants should be replaced with ones based on the recognition of the real sex-based differences between men and women and their equal dignity and rights before the law.”
Additionally, Gennarini encouraged the administration to eliminate the White House’s Gender Policy Council, established by Biden to “advance gender equity and equality in both domestic and foreign policy development and implementation,” according to the White House.
Gennarini told CNA that the incoming administration should “appoint proven pro-life leaders to head USAID and the Global Women’s Issues Office at the State Department.” He further suggested that Trump “fire virtually all ‘gender specialists’ who conduct so-called ‘gender analysis’ in the USAID and State Department apparatus.”
