🔗 Share this article

At least 11 states and a pair of regions have agreed to a recent directive from the federal government to eliminate references of gender identity and the presence of trans and non-binary people from a national sex education initiative, officials stated.

The administration established a Monday deadline for stripping these mentions, threatening the withdrawal of substantial government funding. Nearly all of the agreeing jurisdictions have GOP-led state legislatures and mostly Republican state leaders.

Court Battles and Financial Conflicts

An additional sixteen jurisdictions and Washington DC have filed a lawsuit against the government's requirement, arguing it violates legislative power, which created the $75m sex education program, known as the PREP initiative.

All states participating in the lawsuit are governed by Democrat state executives.

In a recent judicial ruling, a federal judge blocked the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which oversees Prep, from withholding funding to the Democratic states if they do not adhere.

“The agency does not demonstrate that the updated requirements are justified, nor does it offer any reasonable explanation, other than an excuse, for its decisions,” wrote the judge, a U.S. district judge in Oregon. “HHS provides no evidence that it made factual findings or took into account the statutory objectives.”

Initiative Aims and Federal Review

The program seeks to inform adolescents on healthy relationships and how to prevent unplanned parenthood and the transmission of sexually transmitted infections.

In the spring, the Trump administration required all jurisdictions receiving program money to submit a version of their curriculum to HHS and its agency, the Administration for Children and Families, for a health content assessment.

Four months later, the administration sent letters to 46 states and territories, informing them that, during the review, it had discovered “content in the curricula that deviate from the scope of the program's legal framework.”

In particular, the administration claimed it had identified evidence of “gender ideology,” a term often used by rightwing factions to refer to the notion that identity is a changeable cultural concept and that trans and non-binary people exist.

Specific Examples of Required Alterations

The government instructed one state to remove a lesson that stated: “Young people may express themselves in ways that differ from their assigned gender.”

It told another state to delete a line from a educational module that stated: “Individuals regardless of identity need to know how to prevent unplanned pregnancy and infections.”

Moreover, health instructors in many jurisdictions could no longer be instructed to “show tolerance and understanding for all participants, irrespective of individual traits, including race, heritage, religion, economic status, sexual orientation or gender identity,” according to the letters dispatched to states.

Government Comments and Jurisdictional Reactions

“Accountability is coming,” declared a federal official, interim leader of the ACF office, in a announcement. “Federal funds will not be used to poison the minds of the next generation or advance harmful political doctrines.”

Multiple jurisdictions and territories stated they would eliminate the references or had already done so. These include eleven specific states, as well as the two territories.

Another pair of jurisdictions, the states, reported their Prep curricula never contained the terminology referenced in the government's notices.

Effects on Adolescents and Mental Health

Together, these jurisdictions are inhabited by more than 120,000 transgender individuals between the ages of 13 and 17, based on estimates from a research institute.

“When the aim is to support youth and give them a secure environment, I’m not sure why we are stomping on the at-risk teenagers in the community,” said an advocate, who heads an organization that provides sex education in one state.

“When the government says that there’s something wrong with you and the educators aren’t allowed to provide information or they have to disclose your identity to family – when you know that that’s not safe – that’s horrible for mental health.”

Nearly half of trans and non-binary youth seriously considered suicide in the previous twelve months, according to a recent study from a suicide-prevention group. School support for these adolescents is linked to reduced numbers of attempted suicide, the group discovered.

Earlier Incidents and Continuing Conflicts

Earlier this year, the federal government ordered California to remove references to gender identity from its educational program.

When the Democratic-led state declined, the administration revoked its funding, cutting about $12 million in federal funding and halting sex education programs in schools, youth centers and group homes for foster children.

The California health department is challenging the withdrawal. So far, it has been unable to make up for the withdrawn money.

The government has also told educators who obtain funding from additional national programs, the $50m Sexual Risk Avoidance Education (SRAE) and the $101m TPPP initiative, that they cannot teach about “gender-related concepts.”

An early October judicial ruling blocked the administration from changing TPPP, while the Monday court order stops it from changing SRAE in the Democratic states that sued over Prep.

The ACF office did not provide a prompt reply to a request for comment.