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No fewer than 11 states and two territories have agreed to a recent directive from the Trump administration to remove mentions of transgender issues and the existence of transgender and non-binary individuals from a national sex education initiative, authorities stated.

The administration set a recent cutoff for removing these references, threatening the withdrawal of millions in federal funds. Almost every of the agreeing jurisdictions have Republican-controlled state legislatures and mostly GOP governors.

Court Battles and Financial Conflicts

Sixteen other states and Washington DC have filed a lawsuit against the government's requirement, arguing it infringes on legislative power, which created the $75m sexual health initiative, known as the PREP initiative.

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

In a recent court order, a federal judge prevented the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which oversees the program, from withholding funding to the suing jurisdictions if they do not adhere.

“The agency does not demonstrate that the updated requirements are reasonable, nor does it offer any reasonable explanation, other than pretext, for its decisions,” stated the judge, a U.S. district judge in Oregon. “HHS provides no evidence that it made informed determinations or considered the legal goals.”

Initiative Aims and Government Scrutiny

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

In the spring, the federal government demanded all states and territories receiving program money to provide a version of their curriculum to HHS and its agency, the ACF office, for a health content assessment.

By late summer, the government dispatched notices to numerous jurisdictions, stating that, during the evaluation, it had found “material in the educational programs that deviate from the purview of the program's legal framework.”

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

Specific Examples of Required Alterations

The administration instructed one state to drop a lesson that said: “Adolescents may identify in ways that differ from their assigned gender.”

It instructed another state to delete a sentence from a middle school lesson that stated: “Individuals regardless of identity need to know how to avoid pregnancy and STDs.”

Additionally, sex educators in many jurisdictions could no longer be instructed to “demonstrate acceptance and respect for all participants, irrespective of individual traits, including ethnicity, cultural background, religion, social class, sexual orientation or gender identity,” according to the letters dispatched to jurisdictions.

Official Statements and Jurisdictional Reactions

“Accountability is coming,” said Andrew Gradison, acting assistant secretary of the Administration for Children and Families, in a statement. “Government money will not be used to poison the minds of the next generation or promote dangerous ideological agendas.”

Multiple jurisdictions and regions confirmed they would eliminate 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 two territories.

Two other states, Alabama and South Dakota, said their educational programs never included the terminology mentioned in the administration’s letters.

Effects on Adolescents and Psychological Well-being

Collectively, these states are home to more than 120,000 transgender individuals between the ages of 13 and 17, based on projections from a research institute.

“If our goal 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 Cindi Huss, who heads Rise that provides sex education in Tennessee.

“If authorities state that there’s something incorrect about 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 secure – 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. Educational backing for these adolescents is linked to reduced numbers of attempted suicide, the organization found.

Previous Actions and Ongoing Disputes

Previously, the Trump administration ordered California to remove references to gender identity from its Prep curriculum.

When the Democratic-led state declined, the administration withdrew its Prep grant, cutting about $12 million in federal funding and stopping sex education programs in schools, youth centers and group homes for foster children.

The state agency is appealing the termination. So far, it has been unsuccessful in replace the withdrawn money.

The Trump administration has additionally told instructors who obtain money from additional national programs, the $50 million Sexual Risk Avoidance Education (SRAE) and the $101 million Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program (TPPP), that they may not teach about “gender-related concepts.”

An early October judicial ruling blocked the administration from changing one program, while the Monday court order stops it from changing SRAE in the suing jurisdictions that sued over the initiative.

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