AG Brown coalition blocks illegal cuts to comprehensive sexual health education

A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction late Monday blocking the Trump administration from defunding teen sexual health education programs over the inclusion of language that affirms all young peoples’ gender identities.

The ruling is the latest in a lawsuit filed by 16 states and the District of Columbia co-led by Washington Attorney General Nick Brown. The states sued the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in September alleging the administration was threatening funding for two successful sexual health education programs—the Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP) and the Sexual Risk Avoidance Education (SRAE)—unless states removed gender inclusive language from their curriculum. The plaintiff states argued this policy forced states to lose funding or deny young people comprehensive sexual health education. The states maintain HHS’s policy erases the existence of transgender youth and is cruel and purely political with no regard for the law.

“The judge found HHS’ policy stigmatizes students, exacerbates mental health risks for vulnerable young people, and is not medically accurate,” Brown said. “An immediate injunction was the only way to make sure the federal government couldn’t get away with such cruelty.”

Every plaintiff state’s sexual health education program materials have language inclusive of all young people regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity. This practice, based on medical evidence and a commitment to the well-being of all students, is what the Trump administration calls “radical gender ideology.”
 
For example, HHS threatened Washington state with cancellation of PREP grants if the Department of Health didn’t remove language from a high school curriculum stating, “People of all sexual orientations and gender identities need to know how to prevent pregnancy and STIs, either for themselves or to help a friend.”

Washington state receives more than $2.6 million annually through its PREP grant and uses the funding to educate teenagers on pregnancy and prevent the spread of sexually transmitted infections. Other states joining Washington also receive vital PREP funding, as well as funding through the SRAE program, which is similarly focused on sexual health education.

The court held that the plaintiffs were likely to succeed on their arguments that HHS’s actions violate the federal Administrative Procedure Act as well as the United States Constitution. The court determined Congress created the grant programs with clear statutory requirements that are at direct odds with the Trump administration’s baseless insistence that gender is absolute, fixed, and binary, and that any reference to transgender status or gender identity must be erased altogether. The court also held that the states adequately showed that without injunctive relief, their ability to protect the public health, especially as to high-risk youth populations, will be impaired.

Oregon and Minnesota are co-leading the lawsuit with Washington. Joining the lead states are Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin.

Read a copy of the opinion and order granting preliminary injunction here.