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No fewer than eleven jurisdictions and two territories have complied with a recent demand from the federal government to remove mentions of gender identity and the presence of trans and non-binary people from a federal sexual health program, officials stated.

The administration established a Monday deadline for removing these references, threatening the withdrawal of substantial government funding. Nearly all of the complying states have Republican-controlled lawmaking bodies and mostly GOP state leaders.

Legal Challenges and Financial Conflicts

An additional sixteen jurisdictions and Washington DC have initiated legal action against the government's requirement, claiming it violates legislative power, which created the $75m sex education program, known as the PREP initiative.

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

In a recent court order, a U.S. judge prevented the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which manages Prep, from cutting funding to the suing jurisdictions if they refuse to comply.

“The agency does not demonstrate that the new grant conditions are justified, let alone offer any reasonable explanation, other than an excuse, for its actions,” stated the judge, a federal jurist in the state. “The department offers no proof that it made factual findings or took into account the statutory objectives.”

Initiative Aims and Government Scrutiny

Prep aims to educate teenagers on healthy relationships and how to avoid pregnancy and the spread of sexually transmitted infections.

In April, the federal government required all states and territories obtaining program money to submit a copy of their curriculum to HHS and its agency, the ACF office, for a “medical accuracy review”.

By late summer, the administration sent letters to 46 states and territories, informing them that, during the evaluation, it had discovered “content in the curricula that fall outside the scope of Prep’s authorizing statute.”

In particular, the administration said it had uncovered evidence of “gender-related concepts,” a phrase often used by rightwing factions to refer to the idea that gender is a changeable social construct and that trans and non-binary people are real.

Specific Examples of Required Alterations

The government directed one state to remove a lesson that stated: “Young people may express themselves in ways that differ from their biological sex.”

It told another state to eliminate a line from a educational module that stated: “Individuals regardless of identity need to know how to prevent pregnancy and STDs.”

Moreover, sex educators in numerous states could no longer be told to “show tolerance and understanding for all students, regardless of individual traits, including ethnicity, cultural background, faith, social class, orientation or identity,” according to the notices dispatched to states.

Official Statements and State Responses

“Oversight is imminent,” said a federal official, interim leader of the ACF office, in a statement. “Federal funds will not be used to poison the minds of the next generation or advance harmful political doctrines.”

Multiple jurisdictions and territories confirmed they would eliminate the references or had already done so. 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, reported their Prep curricula never contained the terminology referenced in the government's notices.

Effects on Adolescents and Mental Health

Together, these jurisdictions are home to more than 120k trans people between the ages of 13 and 17, according to projections from a research institute.

“When the aim is to support youth and give them a safe space, I’m not sure why we are stomping on the at-risk teenagers in the community,” commented an advocate, who heads an organization that provides sex education in one state.

“If authorities state that there’s something wrong with you and the teachers aren’t allowed to tell you things or they have to out you to your parents – when you know that that’s not safe – that’s detrimental to psychological well-being.”

Nearly half of transgender adolescents contemplated self-harm in the previous twelve months, based on a recent study from a suicide-prevention group. School support for these adolescents is linked to lower rates of self-harm attempts, the group found.

Previous Actions and Continuing Conflicts

Previously, the Trump administration instructed a state to cut mentions to transgender topics from its educational program.

When the Democratic-led state declined, the administration withdrew its funding, eliminating about $12 million in federal funding and halting health initiatives in educational institutions, youth centers and group homes for foster children.

The California health department is appealing the withdrawal. To date, it has been unable to make up for the lost funding.

The Trump administration has also told educators who obtain money from additional national programs, the $50m SRAE program and the $101 million Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program (TPPP), that they cannot teach about “gender ideology.”

An recent judicial ruling prevented the government from altering one program, while the Monday court order stops it from modifying SRAE in the suing jurisdictions that sued over Prep.

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