Trump admin 'illegally' attempting to 'graft' anti-transgender language onto longstanding sex discrimination statute [View all]
Source: Law & Crime
Jan 14th, 2026, 2:18 pm
The Trump administration is unlawfully conditioning the release of billions of dollars in health, education, and research funding on whether or not states vow to discriminate against transgender people, the plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit filed this week claim.
The federal government's campaign against transgender people is nothing new — with President Donald Trump signing an executive order targeting "gender ideology" on the first day of his second term in office — but neither is the litigation challenging such efforts, the plaintiffs note in their 61-page complaint.
Such litigation has largely been successful as various groups have challenged anti-transgender funding conditions issued by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in recent months in at least three district courts across the country, the lawsuit notes.
"But HHS has not withdrawn the Gender Conditions from its Terms and Conditions or Grants Policy Statements, or informed State Recipients that the Gender Conditions will not be enforced," the lawsuit reads. "HHS has, instead, continued to add the Gender Conditions to various [funding notices]." And, despite multiple losses over imposing such conditions, a new policy along the same lines was imposed on funding recipients during October, November, and December 2025, the lawsuit says.
Read more: https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/unlawful-on-multiple-grounds-trump-admin-illegally-attempting-to-graft-anti-transgender-language-onto-longstanding-sex-discrimination-statute-lawsuit-says/
Full headline: 'Unlawful on multiple grounds': Trump admin 'illegally' attempting to 'graft' anti-transgender language onto longstanding sex discrimination statute, lawsuit says
Link to SUIT (PDF) - https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/attachments/press-docs/new-york-v-et-al-v-united-states-department-of-health-and-human-services-et-al-complaint-2025.pdf
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