The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Thursday announced it had terminated California’s participation in a federal sex education grant program after the state refused to remove information about transgender people from its curricula.
The department’s Administration for Children and Families (ACF) asked California in March to submit all learning materials for its Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP), a teen pregnancy prevention and sexual health initiative established in 2010 under the Affordable Care Act, “for a medical accuracy review.”
On Thursday, the Health Department said it identified content in the state’s curricula outside of the scope of PREP’s authorizing statute.
“Specifically, ACF identified multiple examples of gender ideology content, including lessons teaching students that gender identity is distinct from biological sex and that boys can identify as girls and vice versa,” Acting Assistant Secretary Andrew Gradison wrote in a termination letter to officials at California’s Department of Public Health (CDPH).
In June, Gradison instructed the department to remove “all content concerning gender ideology” from its PREP curricula within 60 days.
According to Thursday’s termination letter, California’s health department said in its Aug. 19 response that it would “not make any such modifications,” arguing its program materials are relevant and medically accurate and ACF does not have authority to take an enforcement action.
PREP’s authorizing statute “includes no mention of gender ideology,” which “is not supported by the weight of science,” Gradison wrote to the department on Thursday, adding, “Termination of all California State PREP grants is now appropriate.”
The CDPH has 30 days to submit an appeal. A spokesperson for the department did not immediately return a request for comment.
In a statement, Gradison said the Trump administration “will not allow taxpayer dollars to be used to indoctrinate children.”
“Accountability is coming for every state that uses federal funds to teach children delusional gender ideology,” he said.
In an emailed statement, Elana Ross, a spokesperson for California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), said, “If it’s a day ending in y, President Trump is attacking kids’ safety, health, and access to education as part of his culture war.”
Earlier Thursday, Trump threatened to defund California schools that do not adhere to the administration’s policies on transgender students. Since returning to office in January, Trump has sought to bar transgender girls from participating in girls’ school sports and prohibit trans students from using restrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity.
The Justice Department last month sued California’s Education Department and the state’s governing body for high school sports over what it said was a pattern of “illegal sex discrimination against female student athletes.” Both entities have refused to comply with the administration’s demands to ban trans athletes from girls’ competitions, citing a 2013 state law protecting the right of transgender students to compete in line with their gender identity.
