just a moment later President Donald Trump announced to inauguration attendees when he was sworn in on Monday: "It is the policy of the United States Government that there are only two sexes: male and female." Trump later signed an executive order, Disparaging the White House's so-called "gender ideology" and claiming that a person's gender "is immutable and based on fundamental and indisputable realities."

Trump's order, widely seen as an unscientific attempt to weaken the rights of transgender and gender-expanding people, also directs federal agencies to "require that government-issued identification documents, including passports, visas and Global Entry cards, accurately reflect the the person’s gender,” rather than their gender identity. It was one of 78 orders signed on Monday, some of which were part of Trump's attempt to end Biden-era policies that "embedded the social engineering of race and gender into every aspect of public and private life."

While the executive order affects only federal policy, its impact is huge. It’s only been a decade since Facebook’s “real name” policy made it difficult for people to hold an account under a name different from the one on their ID card. Facebook has since revised those guidelines, but the digital safe space for LGBTQ+ people appears to be shrinking as companies like Meta clear the way for users to claim that transgender people suffer from "mental illness." Except for one area: dating apps.

Following Trump's executive order, both Match Group and Feeld told Wired they have no plans to change course on the gender identity options available on their respective platforms.

"We are not making any changes to our apps," said Kayla Whaling, a spokesperson for Match Group, which owns OkCupid, Tinder, Hinge and several other dating platforms.

It remains to be seen how other tech companies will respond to the executive order. Some, like Mehta, appeared to be making gestures to the incoming Trump administration ahead of this week. Earlier this month, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the company would end its third-party fact-checking program and transition to an X Community Notes model.

Zuckerberg touted the sudden shift as an effort to expand free speech on Facebook, Instagram and Threads and allow for more political content. "We will simplify our content policies and remove a range of restrictions on topics that are disconnected from mainstream discourse, such as immigration and gender," Zuckerberg said in a video announcing the announcement.

If online life becomes less inclusive of LGBTQ+ people under Trump, apps like OkCupid, Feeld, and Hinge may become digital havens and places to connect. Apryl Williams, professor of communication and digital studies at the University of Michigan, said: “Dating apps have the power to become important spaces for gender, racial and sexual inclusivity at a time when many of our civil rights are at stake. ".

More than a decade ago, in 2014, OkCupid expanded gender options for users to include identities such as transgender, pangender, intersex, agender, and genderqueer. It's one of the first dating apps to accurately capture online identity and how it evolves. Currently, Tinder offers a "Beyond Binary" option, while Hinge allows users to select "Non-Binary" on their profiles.