On his first day in office, President Joe Biden signed an executive order implementing the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County.

Biden went to work on Wednesday after taking the Oath of Office, signing 17 executive orders, including actions ending the ban on people traveling from Muslim-majority countries, launching the “100-day mask challenge” to help slow the spread of COVID-19, and re-engaging with the World Health Organization (WHO).

The Supreme Court's Bostock decision, handed down in June, found that anti-LGBT discrimination is a form of sex discrimination. The ruling has wide-ranging implications, affecting policies that prohibit discrimination based on sex. It specifically prohibits workplace discrimination.

“All persons should receive equal treatment under the law, no matter their gender identity or sexual orientation,” a fact sheet released by the White House states. “The Biden-Harris Administration will prevent and combat discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation.

The Trump administration largely ignored the ruling despite pressure from Democrats and LGBT rights groups calling on the White House to implement the decision.

LGBT rights groups – which had been calling on Biden to act – applauded the move.

“Biden’s Executive Order is the most substantive, wide-ranging executive order concerning sexual orientation and gender identity ever issued by a United States president,” HRC President Alphonso David said in a press release. “Today, millions of Americans can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that their President and their government believe discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity is not only intolerable but illegal.”

“By fully implementing the Supreme Court’s historic ruling in Bostock, the federal government will enforce federal law to protect LGBTQ people from discrimination in employment, health care, housing, and education, and other key areas of life. While detailed implementation across the federal government will take time, this Executive Order will begin to immediately change the lives of the millions of LGBTQ people seeking to be treated equally under the law,” he said.

“By signing this executive order on his first day of office, President Biden is boldly demonstrating that his administration will prioritize the civil rights of all Americans,” said NCLR Executive Director Imani Rupert-Gordon. “However, we recognize that there is still much work to be done in order to end the systematic discrimination that plagues LGBTQ people, communities of color, and people that hold multiple underrepresented identities in this country, and NCLR looks forward to working with this administration to help support and protect all of us.”

Biden has also promised to sign the Equality Act, a federal LGBT protections bill, and reverse Trump's ban on transgender troops.

(Related: General Lloyd Austin says he supports open transgender military service.)