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No fewer than eleven jurisdictions and two territories have complied with a recent demand from the federal government to eliminate mentions of gender identity and the presence of trans and non-binary people from a national sex education initiative, officials stated.

The administration set a recent cutoff for stripping these references, warning the loss of millions in federal funds. Almost every of the agreeing jurisdictions have Republican-controlled lawmaking bodies and predominantly Republican governors.

Legal Challenges and Financial Conflicts

An additional sixteen jurisdictions and the nation's capital have initiated legal action against the administration's demand, arguing it violates legislative power, which established the $75m sex education program, known as the Personal Responsibility Education Program (Prep).

All states participating in the lawsuit are governed by Democrat governors.

In a late Monday court order, a federal judge prevented the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which manages the program, from withholding funding to the Democratic states if they refuse to comply.

“The agency does not demonstrate that the updated requirements are justified, nor does it offer any reasonable explanation, other than an excuse, for its decisions,” stated Ann Aiken, a federal jurist in the state. “HHS provides no evidence that it made factual findings or considered the legal goals.”

Program Goals and Government Scrutiny

Prep aims to educate teenagers on positive interactions and how to prevent unplanned parenthood and the transmission of sexually transmitted infections.

In April, the Trump administration required all jurisdictions receiving program money to provide a copy of their educational materials to the department and its agency, the ACF office, for a “medical accuracy review”.

By late summer, the administration dispatched notices to 46 states and territories, stating that, during the evaluation, it had discovered “content in the curricula that deviate from the scope of the program's legal framework.”

In particular, the government said it had identified evidence of “gender-related concepts,” a phrase often used by conservative groups to refer to the notion that gender is a changeable social construct and that transgender individuals are real.

Specific Examples of Requested Changes

The government instructed one state to drop a curriculum that said: “Young people may identify in ways that differ from their assigned gender.”

It instructed North Carolina to eliminate a line from a middle school lesson that read: “Individuals regardless of identity need to know how to prevent unplanned pregnancy and infections.”

Moreover, sex educators in many jurisdictions could no longer be told to “show tolerance and understanding for all students, regardless of individual traits, including ethnicity, cultural background, faith, economic status, orientation or gender identity,” based on the letters sent to jurisdictions.

Official Statements and Jurisdictional Reactions

“Accountability is coming,” 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 promote harmful political doctrines.”

Several jurisdictions and territories confirmed they would remove the references or had already done so. These include eleven specific states, as well as the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Northern Mariana Islands.

Another pair of jurisdictions, Alabama and South Dakota, reported their Prep curricula never contained the terminology mentioned in the government's notices.

Effects on Adolescents and Psychological Well-being

Together, these jurisdictions are inhabited by more than 120k trans people between the ages of 13 and 17, based on 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 most vulnerable youth in the population,” commented an advocate, who leads Rise that offers health instruction in one state.

“When the government says that there’s something wrong with you and the teachers aren’t allowed to provide information or they have to out you to your parents – when you know that that’s not secure – that’s horrible for mental health.”

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 youths is linked to lower rates of self-harm attempts, the organization found.

Earlier Incidents and Continuing Conflicts

Previously, the federal government instructed California to cut references to transgender topics from its Prep curriculum.

When the Democratic-led state declined, the government withdrew its funding, eliminating about $12 million in government money and halting sex education programs in schools, juvenile detention facilities and group homes for foster children.

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

The government has also informed instructors who obtain money from two other federal sex education initiatives, the $50 million 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 changing TPPP, while the latest ruling prohibits it from changing SRAE in the suing jurisdictions that sued over Prep.

The ACF office did not provide a prompt reply to a inquiry.