ANA-Ohio Position Statement in Response to Executive Order 14173
Introduction
On January 20, 2025, President Trump issued an Executive Order cancelling previous existing orders related to diversity, equity, and inclusion.1 The most recent order (13985) had been issued in January, 2021, by former President Biden. Order 13985, “Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities through the Federal Government” required every federal agency to develop and implement “Equity Action Plans.” The new order immediately terminated all Action Plans and related “DEI” programs, mandates, and policies in all federal employment practices, union contracts, and employee training. It also terminated “environmental justice” requirements, positions, committees, programs, grants, and expenditures.
ANA-Ohio opposes this direction and remains committed to addressing existing inequities and all practices that reflect bias related to ethnicity, race, gender, religion, and sexual orientation. The following summarizes central aspects of this issue and our position as a professional organization.
Background:
“DEI” (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) refers to both a goal and to specific initiatives intended to address long-standing patters of racism, unfair discrimination, and exclusion of marginalized populations underrepresented and/or subject to discrimination based on ethnicity, race, religion, sexual orientation, disability or other personal characteristics. This has included recognition of effects of racism on health and the health profession workforce.2
Government initiatives, now often referred to as “DEI,” can be traced back to the civil rights movement of the 1960’s, formalized by President Lyndon Johnson’s 1965 Executive Order 11246, requiring the federal government to hire without regard to race, religion, or country of origin, and to “take affirmative action” to ensure hiring and employment practices were consistent with this. In the 60 years since then, Presidents have continued to use executive powers to further the goals of DEI, specifically addressing practices that limit equal opportunity for employment and access to social benefits. For example, in 2001, President George W. Bush sponsored the Freedom Imitative, a strategy to address the exclusion of persons with disabilities and the barriers they face in accessing many aspects of life. In 2011, President Obama issued Executive Order 13583, “Establishing a Coordinated Government-wide Initiative to promote Diversity and Inclusion in the Federal Workforce. This order was intended to not only create a structure and strategy for “consolidated compliance” focused on diversity and inclusion, but also to create a culture that encourages fairness.3
President Trump’s Executive Order 14173, “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity,” ends DEI practices in the federal government and agencies contracting with the government. Specifically, it charges all federal agencies with immediately ending activities that promote diversity or that require federal contractors to practice affirmative action or encourage contractors to balance workforces based on age, gender, race, religion, sexual preference, or national origin. In addition to ending existing DEI “Equity Action Plans,” it revoked the 1965 Lyndon Johnson Executive order 11246 mandating affirmative action. Further, Trump’s order authorized all federal agencies to “take appropriate action to encourage the private sector to end illegal discrimination and preferences, including DEI.”1
The justification for this order was, in part, that various types of businesses, including major corporations, the medical industry, and institutions of higher education have adopted “dangerous, demeaning, and immoral race- and sex-based preference under the guise of so-called ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)’ or ‘diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA)’ that can violate the civil-rights laws of this nation.” The order goes on to assert, “Illegal DEI and DEIA policies…undermine our national unity, as they deny, discredit, and undermine the traditional American values of hard work, excellence, and individual achievement in favor of an unlawful, corrosive, and pernicious identity-based spoils system.”
Since this order was issued, a growing number of large national corporations, such as Targets, McDonalds, Amazon, Walmart, immediately reduced or eliminated their DEI programs or departments. Fortunately, several many others, such as Costco, Krogers, and JP Morgan Chase, have pledged to retain and continue DEI initiatives.4 Most concerning is the plan to have the Attorney General and Secretary of Education issue, within 120 days, specific requirements and prohibitions regarding DEI activities and academic content to all institutions of higher education that receive Federal grants or participate in the Federal student loan assistance program.1
III. ANA-Ohio Position
In response to Executive Order 14173, ANA-Ohio, the professional nursing organization of Ohio, first affirms our goal of increasing awareness of the crucial importance of equity and diversity within the nursing profession, and developing strategies to achieve a more inclusive nursing workforce across all facets of the health care system. Further, we fully support the May, 2023 statement of the American Nurses Association that states, in part, “Diversity education and mandatory diversity training in the workplace are non-negotiable tools for the nursing profession to exemplify inclusion and equity resulting in antiracist practice and work environments, and improved health care outcomes.…The organizations that employ nurses and the universities that educate the next generation of nurses have an obligation to establish and enforce DEI programs.”5
ANA-Ohio strongly opposes both the specific content of Executive Order 14173 and the justifying claim that DEI programs violate civil rights. Therefore, ANA-Ohio will remain steadfast in our efforts to support actions and programs that address all forms of unjust discrimination and exclusion and will continue our work to assure all nurses and the patients they care for are treated equitably and respectfully.. This includes education and participation in appropriate legislative actions to constrain the harmful effects of this Executive Order.
REFERENCES
- https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/01/31/2025-02097/ending-illegal-discrimination-and-restoring-merit-based-opportunity
- https://www. Kff.org/key-data-on-health-and-healthcare-by-race-and-ethnicity; Stanford FC. The importance of diversity and inclusion in the healthcare workforce. J Nat Med Assoc 2020; 112(3): 247-249; Hinton A, Lambert WM. Moving diversity, equity, and inclusion from opinion to evidence. Cell Rep Med 2022; 3(4): 10069.doi 10.1016/j.xcrm.2022.100619
- https://www.meetingstoday.com/articles/142614/history-dei-acts
- https://data.buildremote.co/products/dei-policy-database?ck_subscriber_id=3186962074&utm_source=convertkit&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=CocaCola%20To%20End%20DEI,%20Once%20%E2%80%98At%20the%20Heart%20of%20Our%20Values%E2%80%99%20-%2016683933
- https://www.nursingworld.org/news/news-releases/2023/ana-opposes-leg-against-dei/
