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At least 11 states and two territories have agreed to a new demand from the Trump administration to eliminate mentions of gender identity and the existence of trans and non-binary people from a national sexual health program, officials confirmed.

The government established a recent cutoff for stripping these mentions, threatening the loss of substantial government funding. Almost every of the agreeing jurisdictions have GOP-led lawmaking bodies and mostly Republican governors.

Court Battles and Funding Disputes

Sixteen other states and the nation's capital have initiated legal action against the government's requirement, arguing it infringes on legislative power, which created the $75 million sex education program, known as the PREP initiative.

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

In a recent judicial ruling, a U.S. judge prevented the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which oversees the program, from cutting financial support to the suing jurisdictions if they do not adhere.

“HHS fails to show that the new grant conditions are justified, nor does it offer any valid reason, other than pretext, for its actions,” wrote the judge, a U.S. district judge in the state. “HHS provides no evidence that it made factual findings or considered the statutory objectives.”

Program Goals and Federal Review

Prep seeks to inform adolescents on positive interactions and how to prevent unplanned parenthood and the transmission of STIs.

In the spring, the federal government required all jurisdictions receiving Prep funds to provide a copy of their educational materials to HHS and its subsidiary, the ACF office, for a health content assessment.

Four months later, the administration sent letters to numerous jurisdictions, informing them that, during the review, it had discovered “material in the educational programs that deviate from the purview of Prep’s authorizing statute.”

Specifically, the administration claimed it had identified evidence of “gender ideology,” a term often used by conservative groups to refer to the idea that gender is a changeable cultural concept and that trans and non-binary people are real.

Specific Examples of Requested Changes

The administration directed one state to remove a lesson that stated: “Young people may express themselves in ways that don’t conform with their biological sex.”

It told North Carolina to eliminate a sentence from a middle school lesson that stated: “People of all sexual orientations and gender identities need to know how to prevent unplanned pregnancy and infections.”

Additionally, sex educators in many jurisdictions could no longer be instructed to “demonstrate acceptance and respect for all participants, regardless of individual traits, including race, heritage, religion, economic status, orientation or gender identity,” according to the letters sent to states.

Government Comments and State Responses

“Oversight is imminent,” declared Andrew Gradison, acting assistant secretary of the Administration for Children and Families, in a announcement. “Federal funds will not be used to poison the minds of the youth or advance harmful political doctrines.”

Multiple states and territories confirmed they would remove the content or had already done so. 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.

Two other states, Alabama and South Dakota, said their educational programs never contained the language referenced in the government's notices.

Impact on Youth and Mental Health

Collectively, these states are home to over 120,000 trans people between the ages of 13 and 17, based on projections from a research institute.

“When the aim is to help adolescents and give them a safe space, I’m not sure why we are targeting the at-risk teenagers in the population,” commented Cindi Huss, who heads an organization that offers health instruction in Tennessee.

“If authorities state that there’s something incorrect about you and the educators aren’t allowed to provide information or they have to out you to your parents – when you know that that’s not safe – that’s detrimental to psychological well-being.”

Almost 50% of transgender adolescents contemplated self-harm in the past year, based on a recent study from a mental health organization. School support for these youths is linked to reduced numbers of attempted suicide, the organization discovered.

Earlier Incidents and Continuing Conflicts

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

When the jurisdiction refused, the administration withdrew its funding, cutting about $12 million in federal funding and stopping sex education programs in educational institutions, juvenile detention facilities and care facilities.

The state agency is appealing the withdrawal. So far, it has been unsuccessful in replace the lost funding.

The government has additionally told instructors who obtain money from additional national programs, the $50m SRAE program and the $101m TPPP initiative, that they cannot teach about “gender-related concepts.”

An recent judicial ruling blocked the administration from altering one program, while the latest ruling prohibits it from modifying SRAE in the suing jurisdictions that sued over Prep.

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