The Trump administration has ordered 40 states and six U.S. territories to remove any mention of gender-related topics from a government-funded education program within the next 60 days. If they don’t, they risk losing federal funding.
This program, called the Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP), provides money to states to support health and sex education for teenagers, especially those in foster care, living in rural areas, or at high risk of teen pregnancy. The total funding across all states and territories is over \$81 million, with New York receiving the largest share—over \$6 million.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the administration believes these programs are being used to push what it calls “gender ideology” onto children. A statement from HHS said that no federal money should be spent spreading what they see as harmful or misleading ideas.
California has already lost its PREP funding because it did not remove gender-related content as requested. The administration has now sent letters to the other states and territories demanding compliance by October 25, or they could also lose their funding.
This move is part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to challenge policies about gender identity in schools and sports, including previous lawsuits and funding cuts over similar issues.
