The State Department is implementing President Donald Trump's directive requiring that restrooms and other private facilities be designated based on biological sex, according to a memo obtained by The Daily Signal.
The memo, issued last week, makes clear the agency is following Trump's executive order aimed at preserving sex-segregated spaces across federal facilities.
"The administration affirms that there are two sexes — male and female — and that federal facilities should operate on this objective and long-standing basis to ensure consistency, privacy, and safety in shared spaces," Tommy Pigott, State Department principal deputy spokesman, told the outlet.
"In line with President Trump's executive order, this provides clear, uniform guidance to the department by grounding policy in biological sex as determined at birth," he added.
The directive is explicit in its instructions to agency personnel.
"ACTION: Post must abide by the President's directive in E.O. 14168, ensuring intimate spaces are designated by biological sex," the memo reads.
Trump signed the executive order on the first day of his second term, directing federal agencies to ensure private spaces such as restrooms, locker rooms, and similar facilities are designated according to biological sex.
That policy direction was reinforced last summer when the Office of Personnel Management issued guidance stating that federal bathrooms, locker rooms, and lactation rooms must follow biological sex designations.
Further backing came on Feb. 26, when the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said it concluded that "under Title VII, federal agency employers may lawfully exclude men from the women's bathroom, and women from the men's bathroom."
The decision marked a reversal of a 2015 Obama-era EEOC ruling that required agencies to allow employees who identify as transgender to use facilities aligned with their "gender identity."
The State Department memo notes that single-occupancy restrooms are not affected by the new policy.
Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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