Biden Reverses Trump’s Executive Order Restricting Diversity Training

President Biden rescinded Trump’s executive order that would have placed limitations on advancing racial equality by restricting federal government employees’ training and their contractors for diversity.

In September, Trump signed the order, which took aim at diversity training for government workers by prohibiting the teaching of “divisive concepts.”

As part of a series of initial steps aimed at undoing several prior decisions by the Trump administration, the order is expected to be reversed under Biden.

The order was for the military, federal contractors, and beneficiaries of grants. Several federal departments, including the State Department and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), stopped or canceled training and activities on prejudice and LGBTQ+ equality only after the order was signed.

The order also faced legal challenges from civil rights advocates who argued that it amounted to overreach.

According to an administration fact sheet, Biden reversed the item as part of a larger executive order he signed aimed at “beginning the work of embedding equity across federal policymaking and rooting out systemic racism and other barriers to opportunity from federal programs and institutions.”

The order also overturned the notorious commission of 1776, created in response to The New York Times Magazine’s 1619 project.

During the 2020 presidential campaign, racial equality was a hot subject, as it coincided with demonstrations against police violence in the aftermath of the George Floyd and Breonna Taylor police killings.