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No fewer than eleven jurisdictions and two territories have complied with a new directive from the Trump administration to remove mentions of gender identity and the existence of transgender and non-binary individuals from a national sex education initiative, officials confirmed.

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

Legal Challenges and Funding Conflicts

Sixteen other states and the nation's capital have initiated legal action challenging the administration's demand, arguing it violates legislative power, which established the $75m sex education program, known as the PREP initiative.

All states participating in the lawsuit are led by Democratic state executives.

In a recent judicial ruling, a U.S. judge blocked the HHS agency, which oversees the program, from cutting funding to the Democratic states if they refuse to comply.

“HHS fails to show that the new grant conditions are reasonable, let alone offer any reasonable explanation, other than an excuse, 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.”

Program Goals and Government Scrutiny

The program aims to educate adolescents on positive interactions and how to avoid unplanned parenthood and the spread of sexually transmitted infections.

In the spring, the Trump administration required all jurisdictions obtaining program money to provide a version of their curriculum to the department and its subsidiary, the ACF office, for a health content assessment.

By late summer, the administration sent letters to 46 states and territories, stating that, during the review, it had found “material in the curricula that fall outside the scope of Prep’s authorizing statute.”

In particular, the government claimed it had uncovered evidence of “gender ideology,” a phrase often used by conservative factions to refer to the idea that gender is a changeable social construct and that trans and non-binary people exist.

Specific Examples of Required Alterations

The government directed one state to drop a curriculum that stated: “Adolescents may express themselves in ways that don’t conform with their assigned gender.”

It instructed North Carolina to delete a line from a educational module that read: “People of all sexual orientations and gender identities need to know how to avoid unplanned pregnancy and infections.”

Additionally, health instructors in numerous states could no longer be instructed to “show tolerance and understanding for all participants, regardless of personal characteristics, including ethnicity, cultural background, faith, economic status, orientation or gender identity,” according to the notices dispatched to states.

Official Statements and Jurisdictional Reactions

“Oversight is imminent,” declared a federal official, acting assistant secretary of the Administration for Children and Families, in a announcement. “Government money will not be used to negatively influence of the next generation or promote dangerous ideological agendas.”

Multiple jurisdictions and territories confirmed they would eliminate the content or had completed the process. These consist of Alaska, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia and Wyoming, as well as the two territories.

Another pair of jurisdictions, Alabama and South Dakota, reported their educational programs never included the terminology mentioned in the administration’s letters.

Effects on Adolescents and Mental Health

Together, these states are inhabited by over 120,000 transgender individuals aged 13 to 17, according to projections from a research institute.

“If our goal is to help adolescents 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 leads Rise that offers health instruction 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 disclose your identity to family – when you know that that’s not safe – that’s detrimental to psychological well-being.”

Almost 50% of transgender adolescents seriously considered suicide in the past year, according to a 2024 survey from a suicide-prevention group. School support for these youths is linked to lower rates of attempted suicide, the organization discovered.

Earlier Incidents and Continuing Conflicts

Previously, the Trump administration instructed California to cut references to gender identity from its educational program.

When the Democratic-led state refused, the administration withdrew its Prep grant, 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 challenging the withdrawal. So far, it has been unable to make up for the withdrawn money.

The Trump administration has also told instructors who receive funding from additional national programs, the $50 million SRAE program and the $101 million Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program (TPPP), that they cannot teach about “gender-related concepts.”

An recent judicial ruling blocked the administration from altering TPPP, while the latest ruling stops it from modifying SRAE in the Democratic states that challenged Prep.

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