Federal Officials Demands Exclusion of Transgender Issues from Sexual Health Curricula, Multiple Jurisdictions Agree

At least eleven jurisdictions and a pair of regions have agreed to a recent directive from the Trump administration to remove references of transgender issues and the presence of trans and non-binary people from a national sexual health program, authorities stated.

The government set a Monday deadline for stripping these mentions, warning the loss of substantial government funding. Almost every of the complying states have Republican-controlled state legislatures and predominantly Republican governors.

Court Battles and Financial Conflicts

An additional sixteen jurisdictions and the nation's capital have filed a lawsuit against the administration's demand, arguing it infringes on legislative power, which created the $75 million sexual health initiative, known as the Personal Responsibility Education Program (Prep).

All jurisdictions participating in the legal challenge are led by Democrat governors.

In a late Monday court order, a U.S. judge prevented the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which oversees Prep, from cutting funding to the Democratic states if they refuse to comply.

“The agency does not demonstrate that the new grant conditions are justified, let alone offer any valid reason, other than pretext, for its decisions,” wrote Ann Aiken, a federal jurist in Oregon. “HHS provides no evidence that it made factual findings or took into account the legal goals.”

Initiative Aims and Federal Review

Prep seeks to inform teenagers on positive interactions and how to avoid unplanned parenthood and the spread of STIs.

In April, the Trump administration required all states and territories obtaining program money to provide a copy of their educational materials to HHS and its subsidiary, the Administration for Children and Families, for a “medical accuracy review”.

Four months later, the government dispatched notices to 46 states and territories, stating that, during the review, it had found “content in the curricula that deviate from the purview of the program's legal framework.”

Specifically, the government claimed it had uncovered evidence of “gender-related concepts,” a term often used by conservative factions to refer to the idea that gender is a fluid cultural concept and that trans and non-binary people are real.

Notable Cases of Requested Changes

The government directed Illinois to remove a lesson that said: “Adolescents may express themselves in ways that differ from their assigned gender.”

It told another state to eliminate a sentence from a middle school lesson that read: “Individuals regardless of identity need to know how to prevent pregnancy and STDs.”

Additionally, sex educators in many jurisdictions could no longer be instructed to “demonstrate acceptance and respect for all participants, irrespective of personal characteristics, including ethnicity, heritage, religion, economic status, orientation or gender identity,” based on the notices sent to jurisdictions.

Official Statements and Jurisdictional Reactions

“Accountability is coming,” said Andrew Gradison, interim leader of the ACF office, in a announcement. “Government money will not be used to poison the minds of the next generation or advance harmful political doctrines.”

Several jurisdictions and regions confirmed they would eliminate the content or had completed the process. These include Alaska, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia and Wyoming, as well as the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Northern Mariana Islands.

Another pair of jurisdictions, Alabama and South Dakota, reported their educational programs never contained the terminology referenced in the government's notices.

Effects on Adolescents and Psychological Well-being

Collectively, these jurisdictions are inhabited by more than 120k transgender individuals aged 13 to 17, based on projections from a research institute.

“If our goal is to support youth and give them a secure environment, I’m not sure why we are targeting the at-risk teenagers in the community,” commented an advocate, who leads Rise that provides sex education in Tennessee.

“If authorities state that there’s something incorrect about you and the educators aren’t allowed to tell you things or they have to out you to your parents – when you know that that’s not secure – that’s horrible for mental health.”

Nearly half of transgender adolescents contemplated self-harm in the past year, according to a 2024 survey from a mental health organization. School support for these youths is associated with reduced numbers of self-harm attempts, the organization found.

Earlier Incidents and Ongoing Disputes

Earlier this year, the federal government instructed California to cut references to gender identity from its Prep curriculum.

When the Democratic-led state refused, the administration revoked its funding, cutting approximately $12m in federal funding and stopping sex education programs in educational institutions, youth centers and group homes for foster children.

The state agency is appealing the withdrawal. So far, it has been unable to replace the withdrawn money.

The Trump administration has additionally informed educators who obtain funding from two other federal sex education initiatives, the $50m Sexual Risk Avoidance Education (SRAE) and the $101m Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program (TPPP), that they cannot teach about “gender ideology.”

An recent court order blocked the government from changing one program, while the latest ruling stops it from changing SRAE in the suing jurisdictions that challenged Prep.

The ACF office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.