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No fewer than eleven jurisdictions and a pair of regions have agreed to a new demand from the federal government to remove mentions of gender identity and the existence of trans and non-binary people from a national sex education initiative, authorities confirmed.

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

Legal Challenges and Funding Conflicts

Sixteen other states and Washington DC have initiated legal action against the administration's demand, arguing it violates Congressional authority, which created the $75m sex education program, known as the Personal Responsibility Education Program (Prep).

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

In a late Monday judicial ruling, a federal judge prevented the HHS agency, which oversees Prep, from cutting financial support to the suing jurisdictions if they refuse to comply.

“HHS fails to show that the new grant conditions are reasonable, let alone offer any valid reason, other than pretext, for its decisions,” wrote Ann Aiken, a U.S. district judge in the state. “The department offers no proof that it made factual findings or considered the statutory objectives.”

Program Goals and Federal Review

The program seeks to inform adolescents on healthy relationships and how to prevent unplanned parenthood and the spread of STIs.

In April, the Trump administration required all jurisdictions receiving program money to provide a version of their educational materials to the department and its agency, the ACF office, for a health content assessment.

Four months later, the government dispatched notices to numerous jurisdictions, stating that, during the evaluation, it had discovered “material in the educational programs that fall outside the purview of Prep’s authorizing statute.”

In particular, the administration said it had identified evidence of “gender-related concepts,” a term often used by conservative groups to refer to the notion that identity is a fluid cultural concept and that transgender individuals are real.

Notable Cases of Requested Changes

The administration instructed Illinois to drop a curriculum that stated: “Adolescents may identify in ways that don’t conform with their biological sex.”

It told North Carolina to delete a sentence from a educational module that stated: “Individuals regardless of identity need to know how to prevent pregnancy and STDs.”

Moreover, sex educators in many jurisdictions could no longer be instructed to “show tolerance and understanding for all students, irrespective of personal characteristics, including ethnicity, heritage, faith, social class, sexual orientation or gender identity,” according to the letters sent to jurisdictions.

Government Comments and State Responses

“Oversight is imminent,” declared a federal official, acting assistant secretary of the ACF office, in a announcement. “Federal funds will not be used to poison the minds of the next generation or advance dangerous ideological agendas.”

Several states and regions stated they would remove the content or had completed the process. These consist of eleven specific states, 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 included the language mentioned in the government's notices.

Effects on Adolescents and Mental Health

Collectively, these jurisdictions are home to over 120,000 trans people aged 13 to 17, according to projections from a research institute.

“When the aim is to help adolescents and give them a secure environment, I’m not sure why we are stomping on the most vulnerable youth in the population,” commented an advocate, who leads Rise that offers health instruction in Tennessee.

“When the government says that there’s something incorrect about you and the teachers 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.”

Nearly half of trans and non-binary youth seriously considered suicide in the past year, based on a 2024 survey from a suicide-prevention group. School support for these adolescents is associated with reduced numbers of self-harm attempts, the group found.

Previous Actions and Ongoing Disputes

Previously, the federal government ordered a state to cut mentions to transgender topics from its Prep curriculum.

When the jurisdiction declined, the government withdrew its funding, cutting approximately $12m in federal funding and halting health initiatives in schools, youth centers and group homes for foster children.

The California health department is challenging the termination. To date, it has been unable to make up for the withdrawn money.

The government has additionally informed instructors who receive funding from additional national programs, the $50m Sexual Risk Avoidance Education (SRAE) and the $101m TPPP initiative, that they may not teach about “gender ideology.”

An recent court order prevented the administration from altering one program, while the Monday court order stops it from changing the other program in the suing jurisdictions that challenged the initiative.

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