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At least eleven jurisdictions and two territories have agreed to a new directive from the Trump administration to eliminate mentions of transgender issues and the existence of transgender and non-binary individuals from a national sexual health program, officials confirmed.

The administration set a recent cutoff for stripping these mentions, warning the loss of substantial government funding. Nearly all of the complying states have Republican-controlled state legislatures and predominantly GOP state leaders.

Legal Challenges and Funding Conflicts

Sixteen other states and the nation's capital have filed a lawsuit against the government's requirement, claiming it infringes on Congressional authority, which established the $75m sex education program, known as the Personal Responsibility Education Program (Prep).

All jurisdictions participating in the legal challenge are led by Democrat state executives.

In a recent court order, a U.S. judge blocked the HHS agency, which oversees the program, from cutting financial support to the suing jurisdictions if they do not adhere.

“The agency does not demonstrate that the updated requirements are justified, let alone offer any reasonable explanation, other than an excuse, for its decisions,” stated Ann Aiken, a U.S. district judge in the state. “HHS provides no evidence that it made factual findings or considered the statutory objectives.”

Program Goals and Federal Review

The program seeks to inform teenagers on healthy relationships and how to avoid pregnancy and the transmission of STIs.

In the spring, the federal government demanded all jurisdictions receiving Prep funds to submit a copy of their educational materials to the department and its subsidiary, the Administration for Children and Families, for a health content assessment.

By late summer, the administration dispatched notices to numerous jurisdictions, stating that, during the evaluation, it had discovered “material in the curricula that fall outside the scope of the program's legal framework.”

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

Notable Cases of Required Alterations

The government directed one state to drop a lesson that said: “Young people may express themselves in ways that don’t conform with their assigned gender.”

It told North Carolina to delete a line from a middle school lesson that stated: “Individuals regardless of identity need to know how to avoid pregnancy and STDs.”

Additionally, sex educators in numerous states could no longer be told to “show tolerance and understanding for all participants, irrespective of individual traits, including race, cultural background, faith, economic status, sexual orientation or identity,” based on the notices sent to jurisdictions.

Official Statements and Jurisdictional Reactions

“Accountability is coming,” declared a federal official, interim leader of the Administration for Children and Families, in a announcement. “Federal funds will not be used to negatively influence of the next generation or advance dangerous ideological agendas.”

Several states and regions confirmed they would remove the references 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 U.S. Virgin Islands and the Northern Mariana Islands.

Two other states, the states, reported their Prep curricula never contained the language mentioned in the government's notices.

Impact on Youth and Mental Health

Together, these jurisdictions are inhabited by over 120k trans people aged 13 to 17, based on projections from a university department.

“If our goal is to support youth and give them a secure environment, I’m not sure why we are targeting the at-risk teenagers in the community,” said Cindi Huss, who heads Rise that provides sex education in one state.

“If authorities state that there’s something incorrect about 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 safe – that’s detrimental to psychological well-being.”

Nearly half of transgender adolescents seriously considered suicide in the previous twelve months, based on a 2024 survey from a suicide-prevention group. Educational backing for these adolescents is linked to reduced numbers of attempted suicide, the organization discovered.

Earlier Incidents and Ongoing Disputes

Earlier this year, the federal government ordered a state to remove references to gender identity from its Prep curriculum.

When the Democratic-led state refused, the government revoked its funding, cutting about $12 million in government money and halting health initiatives in educational institutions, juvenile detention facilities and care facilities.

The state agency is challenging the termination. To date, it has been unable to replace the withdrawn money.

The government has also informed educators who obtain money from two other federal sex education initiatives, the $50 million Sexual Risk Avoidance Education (SRAE) and the $101m Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program (TPPP), that they may not teach about “gender-related concepts.”

An recent judicial ruling prevented the administration from altering one program, while the Monday court order stops it from modifying SRAE in the Democratic states that challenged the initiative.

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