RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) – With the stroke of a pen, President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday, declaring a policy for the nation to recognize male and female as the only two genders in the United States.
“This week, I will also end the government policy of trying to socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life,” said President Trump during his inauguration speech on Monday. “We will forge a society that is color-blind and merit-based.”
This step catches the nation’s attention, including Virginians who oppose the executive order.
This includes James Millner, director of Virginia Pride at Diversity Richmond.
“An executive order or the stroke of a pen can not erase the human dignity of people,” said Millner. “That’s what this executive order is designed to do. It’s mean to dehumanize, to discriminate and divide people. We will not let that happen.”
Millner believes the move is “cruel” and “misguided.”
“This does nothing to solve the problems of everyday Americans in this country,” he said.
Over the past few days, Millner said dozens of people have contacted Diversity Richmond and are wondering what to do next.
“People are scared,” said Millner. “We know that people don’t know how this is really going to impact how they go through their daily life, and that’s a cruel thing to have the President the United States upend and disrupt the lives of Americans.”
While many have opposed the executive order, others, including the Family Foundation, applaud the move.
Victoria Cobb, president of the Family Foundation, sent 12 On Your Side the following statement applauding President Trump’s executive order:
“President Trump’s Executive Order responds to a resounding message sent by the voters who want to see America move away from radical social policy and woke ideology. His order restores science because no one is assigned a gender at birth, one’s DNA at conception reveals their gender. Government should lead the way in ending confusion around genders that create unsafe and unhelpful practices.”
As questions remain about the ripple effects of this action, Millner said his focus is on supporting the LGBTQ+ community.
“We want people to know that they belong here, that they belong in this community, that they belong in this Commonwealth, they belong in this country,” he said. “That is the most important message we can send right now.”
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