The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has canceled a $12 million grant to California’s Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP) — a federal initiative created under the Affordable Care Act to teach abstinence and contraception to at-risk youth.
The Trump administration balked at the program’s inclusion of transgender identity, reports Reuters, accusing educators of “indoctrinating” children with “gender ideology.”
In a letter to the California Department of Public Health, HHS said it was rescinding the grant because “the grant is not being administered consistent with the authorizing statute, as the funded programs and services include gender ideology which is outside the scope of the statute.”
The letter further alleged that California officials had refused an earlier request to strip gender identity-related material from the program.
HHS argued that “gender ideology” is “irrelevant to teaching abstinence and contraception and unrelated to any of the adult preparation subjects” that the grant is intended to cover, such as “adolescent development,” parent-child communication, healthy relationships, and “healthy life skills” — even though gender identity could directly affect those areas.
An HHS press release accused California of using taxpayer dollars to “encourage kids to contemplate mutilating their genitals.” Supporters of the curriculum counter that it simply asks teachers to note that not everyone feels their assigned sex at birth aligns with their gender expression or inner sense of self. Social and surgical transition are only briefly mentioned at the high school level to explain what “transgender” means.
Andrew Gradison, an acting assistant secretary at HHS, defended the cancellation on Fox & Friends, alleging that PREP’s curriculum included “radical gender ideology,” without offering specifics.
“If you continue to push radical ideology on our children, we will not pay for it,” Gradison said.
Gradison said his department is completing a review of every state’s sex education curriculum and warned that multiple states could be forced to strip references to transgender identity or risk losing federal funding. According to The Hill, 46 states, U.S. territories, and the District of Columbia have been told to remove “all references to gender ideology” from their PREP programs.
The grant’s cancellation comes on the heels of the Trump administration’s lawsuit against California for refusing to ban transgender athletes from female sports teams, arguing that such policies violate Title IX. Trump also signed an executive order threatening to cut funding from schools or districts that allow transgender athletes to compete in female sports.
For its part, California officials have refused to comply, pointing to a state law that allows transgender children to join teams matching their gender identity.
California law also requires sex education classes to address gender identity and gender expression — another reason officials resisted HHS’s demand to erase those topics from the PREP curriculum.
Most school funding comes from local and state sources, but federal funding has given Trump leverage to enforce an executive order that denies transgender identity by recognizing only two sexes, based on biology at birth. He threatened to withhold that funding in a Truth Social post last week, ahead of HHS’s revocation of the grant.
“Any California school district that doesn’t adhere to our Transgender policies, will not be funded,” Trump wrote, without further explanation. “Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
Voters in at least four states have backed a slew of anti-transgender ballot measures that restrict transgender athletes' participation in sports, limit trans students' access to gender-specific facilities, or bar minors from obtaining certain gender-affirming surgeries.
Arizona voters backed Proposition 318, a measure requiring schools and athletic associations to designate teams as male, female, or co-ed based on athletes' sex assigned at birth. The measure also bars students, athletes, employees, and others from joining teams or using school and athletic association facilities, including restrooms, designated for a sex different from the one they were assigned at birth.
U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) is drawing praise from LGBTQ advocates for criticizing Democrats who have sought to distance themselves from transgender rights.
At a town hall hosted by the progressive campus group More Perfect University, a transgender student from the University of Southern Maine asked Ocasio-Cortez to respond to concerns that some trans people "feel that we have been abandoned by the Democratic Party, that we are a losing issue, that it's not worth defending us."
Her question followed reports of Democrats embracing right-wing framing on issues such as transgender inclusion in sports and Medicaid coverage for gender-affirming care, or shifting to other issues to avoid discussing them.
A Texas school district canceled a high school production of Little Shop of Horrors after officials objected to a female student playing the musical's male lead, citing the state's controversial anti-drag law.
Ana Mota, a senior at South Grand Prairie High School, was cast as Seymour, a nerdy flower shop worker who discovers a strange, bloodthirsty plant.
Mota has performed in several local productions, playing Jack in Into the Woods and the title character in Pinocchio. Having played male characters before, she thought nothing of auditioning for Little Shop of Horrors, noting that cross-gender casting is common in theater.
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