Sailors aboard the littoral combat ship USS Oakland stand in formation on the flight deck during a change of command ceremony in October 2024. The Navy issued new guidance Feb. 25, 2025, to comply with a federal mandate recognizing only two biological sexes, male and female, and ending gender identity efforts. (Vance Hand/U.S. Navy)

Navy personnel will no longer see questions about gender identity when they fill out forms, and single-sex spaces on ships and bases can now be designated only as male or female.

Those changes are part of new guidance the service issued this week in response to an executive order requiring federal agencies to adopt a binary definition of sex.

A Navy memo dated Tuesday states that the U.S. recognizes two sexes, which “are not changeable.” It notes the Defense Department’s intention to halt references to what is dubbed gender ideology.

The Navy will review policies for “intimate spaces” at its facilities, aboard ships and elsewhere to make sure that they are designated by sex rather than gender.

Intimate spaces include bathrooms and single sailors’ living quarters on base and in ship berthing.

In addition, paperwork requiring identification of the person’s sex will have only male and female as the available choices.

All statements, forms, communications and messages that “promote or otherwise inculcate gender ideology” will be removed or go out of circulation.

It’s unclear how many current service members identify as transgender or nonbinary. About 0.4% said they were transgender and an additional 1.2% said their sex at birth didn’t match their gender identity in a 2021 workplace and gender relations survey by the government Office of People Analytics. 

The agency said the survey of about 98,000 active duty and reservist service members was weighted to be generalized to the full population of the force, which numbered about 2.1 million at the time.

Lt. Cmdr. Saul Burleson, chaplain of the amphibious assault ship USS Makin Island, leads a prayer during an LGBTQ observance in June 2024. New guidance issued by the Navy on Feb. 25, 2025, recognizes only two biological sexes, male and female, and directs the service to review its paperwork, communications and messaging for references to gender identity. (Joshua Martinez/U.S. Navy)

The Navy directive follows President Donald Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order titled “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.”

In another executive order issued Jan. 27, Trump said “expressing a false ‘gender identity’ divergent from an individual’s sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service.”

The chief of naval operations and the commandant of the Marine Corps have 30 days to implement the directive across the fleet, with a follow-up deadline of 90 days.

The Navy’s directive follows a broader shift across the military, with the Air Force and Army also moving to eliminate gender identity policies in compliance with Trump’s orders.

The Air Force put out its own memo Feb. 4 outlining its implementation plan, which includes reviewing and potentially terminating programs that promote or reinforce gender ideology.

Similarly, the Army issued guidance Feb. 13 directing a review of all programs and materials to ensure compliance with the new policy.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has been outspoken in his opposition to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in the military.

Earlier this month, a dozen diversity-related cadet clubs at the U.S. Military Academy were disbanded in accordance with the Defense Department removal of programs considered to fall under DEI.

The Department of Defense Education Activity, which serves approximately 67,000 students across 161 schools at military installations worldwide, has also been instructed to follow the executive orders.

Library books and learning materials regarding race, gender and sexuality have been sidelined pending review. Groups such as the European Parent Teacher Student Association have called on Congress and the Pentagon to help clarify rules in line with the orders.