The U.S. Navy has decided to cease inquiring about gender identity among its personnel, shifting its focus to biological sex on forms and in single-sex spaces aboard ships and at bases, as reported by military news outlet Stars and Stripes.
The outlet obtained a Navy memo dated Tuesday that states the U.S. recognizes two sexes, which “are not interchangable.”
Specifically, the term “intimate spaces” in the directive pertains to bathrooms and individual living quarters for sailors both ashore and aboard ships, Stars and Stripes clarified.
These modifications stem from an executive order recently signed by President Donald Trump, titled “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.”
U.S. Navy sailors from the USS Carl Vinson march across the iconic 6th Street Viaduct for a Memorial Day salute on May 27, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Mario Tama)
President Donald Trump signs an executive order in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025. (Pool)
“This administration is bringing back common sense and restoring biological truth to the federal government,” HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a statement. “The prior administration’s policy of trying to engineer gender ideology into every aspect of public life is over.”
Trump’s gender-related executive orders – which include banning biological men from women’s sports and transgender people from the military – have sparked legal challenges, with several lawsuits filed by progressive and LGBT advocacy groups arguing that the orders violate civil rights protections for transgender individuals.
Fox News’ Alexander Hall and Jamie Joseph contributed to this report.
