Feds spent millions studying trans menstruation, strengthening gay rights in the Balkans, database reveals

Fox News

06-02-2025

FIRST ON FOX: The federal government under the Biden administration doled out more than $174 million in grants and contracts to promote "radical ideas" on gender ideology, including to study menstrual cycles in transgender men and to "shield" the gay community in the Western Balkans, a new database dubbed ​​"Funding Insanity" found.
"When Americans pay their taxes every year, they expect that money to go towards projects that help them: strengthening our national defense, building and upgrading infrastructure, protecting our natural resources, etc.," American Principles Project President Terry Schilling said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital.
"However, in recent years Democrats have been using public funds to instead push their radical gender agenda here at home and around the world," he said. "Hundreds of millions of dollars have been squandered on programs promoting the idea that human biology doesn't matter. Nothing could better exemplify the disgusting corruption that has taken hold of Washington."
The American Principles Project, a conservative nonprofit that bills itself as "America's Top Defender of the Family," published a new database Thursday morning called "Funding Insanity," which details various initiatives — both domestic and abroad — that received hundreds of thousands of dollars from the federal government to promote left-wing gender ideology.
The funds examined by the AAP were doled out across the past four years under the Biden administration.
In one of the priciest examples on AAP's database, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) obligated $1,929,783 to the American Bar Association as part of a mission to "shield" members of "the LGBTQI+ population in the Western Balkans" by "strengthening human rights, information integrity, equality, and democracy."
The Western Balkans includes nations such as Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro and Albania. The Balkans region overwhelmingly does not recognize gay marriage, though nations such as Montenegro recognize "life partnerships" between gay couples.
The grant began on Oct. 1, 2024, and was set to run until Sept. 30. The Trump administration, however, paused foreign assistance in January, and USAID is in the midst of an apparent dismantling at the hands of the Department of Government Efficiency.
In another example, the Department of Agriculture granted $600,000 to Southern University A&M in Louisiana to study menstrual cycles, including for transgender men and nonbinary people.
"The first occurrence of menstruation occurs at approximately 12 years of age and ends with menopause at roughly 51 years of age," the description for the grant states. "A woman will have a monthly menstrual cycle for about 40 years of her life averaging to about 450 periods over the course of her lifetime.
"It is also important to recognize that transgender men and people with masculine gender identities, intersex and non-binary persons may also menstruate," it continues. "At any given moment about 26% of the world's population is menstruating."
The grant began in April 2024 and is described as a study to "address the growing concerns and issues surrounding menstruation," including the use of natural fibers, such as hemp, for feminine hygiene products.
Fox News Digital reached out to the university and the American Bar Association regarding these respective grants but did not immediately receive replies.
The Department of Agriculture spent an additional $229,637 to a natural resource management firm on contracts for "Brazil Forest and gender consultant services," according to the database.
Gender consultants in forestry services work to promote gender-equality and women's empowerment in the industry. The forestry contract began on Jan 15, 2024, and ended in January, a review of its award profile shows.
The State Department, in another example, spent nearly $25,000 in funds to "miscellaneous" foreign groups to premiere a theater production of "The Vagina Monologues" translated to the Gujarati language in India.
"To support social change towards women empowerment and ending gender-based violence through theatre, world premier of the Vagina Monologues in Gujarati language in Mumbai and Ahmedabad," the description of the grant reads.
"The Vagina Monologues" is a feminist play that first premiered in the U.S. in 1996 that focuses on personal monologues involving topics such as rape, menstrual periods, genital mutilation and prostitution.
In another pricey grant, USAID sent $1,065,702 to a Bangladesh welfare group to "support gender diverse people (gdp) through the new shomota (a Bangla word meaning "equality" in English)," the description for the grant reads.
Another State Department grant delivered $2,315 to a nongovernmental agency in Nepal to teach English to "professional transgender women makeup entrepreneurs."
Schilling continued in his statement provided to Fox Digital that "corruption" involving the federal government using taxpayer funds for left-wing gender initiatives "is finally coming to an end."
In November 2024, "the American people gave Donald Trump a clear mandate to drain the swamp, and since taking office he has acted decisively to do so along with Elon Musk and the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency," he said. "We hope President Trump, Musk and DOGE will find this information useful as they work to root out the far left's ideological waste and instead return our government to its true purpose: service for the good of all Americans."
Musk and his team of auditors at DOGE are poring through federal databases to identify overspending, fraud and corruption, with their main focus right now involving USAID.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio reported on Monday that he is now the acting director of USAID, telling the media that the agency needs to be brought in line with Trump's "America First" policies, which include heightened scrutiny over the distribution of taxpayer funds overseas.
USAID's website, since Tuesday evening, notifies readers that staff would be placed on leave globally, except "designated personnel responsible for mission-critical functions, core leadership and specially designated programs."
Democrat lawmakers have slammed the Trump administration's apparent dismantling of the agency and targeting of other agencies, such as the Treasury Department, including holding protests in Washington, D.C.
"This is the most corrupt bargain we've ever seen in American history: Elon Musk gives $250 million to elect Donald Trump, and Donald Trump turns over the keys to United States government to Elon Musk and his billionaire friends and his cronies," Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., said during a protest outside the Treasury Department in Washington on Tuesday.
"Are we going to let that stand? Hell no, we are not going to let that stand," Van Hollen added, later vowing, "We have to fight this in the courts, we have to fight this in the Congress, we have to fight this in the streets. We need to fight this all over America."
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt slammed such rhetoric as attempts to "incite violence" during a press conference on Wednesday.
"It's unacceptable, the comments that have been made by these Democrat leaders, and frankly, they don't even know what they're talking about because President Trump was elected with a mandate from the American people to make this government more efficient," Leavitt responded.
"He campaigned across this country with Elon Musk, vowing that Elon was going to head up the Department of Government Efficiency and the two of them with a great team around them were going to look at the receipts of this federal government and ensure it's accountable to American taxpayers. That's all that is happening here," Leavitt continued. "And for Democrat officials to incite violence and encourage Americans to take to the streets is incredibly alarming, and they should be held accountable for that rhetoric."