How a 2025 executive order changed federal language
The written order helps separate a specific government policy from a sweeping claim about banned words.
On January 20, 2025, President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14168. It directed federal agencies to use specified definitions of sex-related terms in official government work.
The order also told agencies to remove statements, policies and communications that the administration considered inconsistent with its definitions. Its language and effects should be understood by reading the order itself, rather than treating every reported list of words as an identical rule.
That distinction matters. An instruction for federal agencies is not a general ban on people using a word. Agency guidance, court decisions and later actions can also affect how an order is carried out.
The source below is the original government document. This article describes what the January 2025 order said; it does not claim to summarize every later legal development.
Check the sources
- U.S. Government Publishing Office: Executive Order 14168 www.govinfo.gov