Latest news with #GLMA:HealthProfessionalsAdvancingLGBTQ+Equality
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
LGBTQ+ researchers sue Trump administration over grant terminations
BALTIMORE — An association of LGBTQ+ and allied health professionals sued the Trump administration last week on behalf of researchers whose funding related to LGBTQ+ health issues was terminated. GLMA: Health Professionals Advancing LGBTQ+ Equality filed the suit against the National Institutes of Health and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on May 20 in the U.S. District Court of Maryland, in an attempt to block the termination of hundreds of grants dedicated to researching the health of LGBTQ+ Americans. The plaintiffs listed in the complaint are among those who lost a combined $800 million in research funding after executive orders penned by President Donald Trump sought to terminate federal funding for grants related to 'gender ideology' and 'diversity, equity, and inclusion.' 'The goal is ultimately to turn back the clock to before these discriminatory priorities were put into action,' says Pelecanos, who is the Renberg Fellow at Lambda Legal, representing GLMA in the suit. In February, the NIH issued a memorandum in which it stated that it would remain consistent with Trump's executive orders, and no longer support 'studies based on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and gender identity.' Dr. Sarah Peitzmeier, one of the named plaintiffs in the suit, is an assistant professor at the University of Maryland School of Public Health who has received multiple NIH research grants. According to the complaint, NIH in March terminated a grant under which Peitzmeier was researching intimate partner violence, asserting that the research was connected to DEI. Peitzmeier, who is originally from Silver Spring, requested to transfer one of her other research grants, regarding HIV and violence prevention for transgender women of color, to her new institution at UMD from the University of Michigan, where she was researching at the time. She told The Baltimore Sun that this grant made up over three quarters of her salary, but was effectively blocked by the NIH after the agency stopped responding to her messages, and stalled any further payments. 'I was really excited to move back to Maryland this year and set up my research agenda here to make an impact in the state of Maryland, as well as nationally,' said Peitzmeier, who made the move but was unable to continue her research. The NIH did not respond to requests for comment. _____
The Hill
13-02-2025
- Health
- The Hill
Judge blocks Trump's gender-affirming care executive orders nationwide
BALTIMORE — A federal judge Thursday blocked parts of two executive orders issued by President Trump that collectively seek to restrict gender-affirming care. U.S. District Judge Brendan Hurson at the conclusion of a hearing found a group of transgender teens and LGBTQ organizations that sued were likely to prevail on all of their claims that the ordersare without authority and amount to illegal and unconstitutional discrimination. 'Stopping care in the middle of receiving it, any care, really, casts doubt on whether in fact the goals are to protect the recipients of the care,' said Hurson, an appointee of former President Biden. It adds to a series of court orders across the country in recent days temporarily blocking Trump's actions, ranging from restricting birthright citizenship to transferring incarcerated transgender women to male facilities to Trump's firing of the head of a whistleblower office. Under Hurson's new ruling, various federal agencies are temporarily prohibited from withholding or conditioning funding based on a health care facility providing gender-affirming care anywhere in the country. The plaintiffs — a group of transgender teens, their parents and two organizations, PFLAG and GLMA: Health Professionals Advancing LGBTQ+ Equality — raised alarm that hospitals across the country quickly moved to cancel appointments after Trump issued two executive orders as part of what his administration has called a crackdown on 'gender ideology.' One order, which Trump signed on his first day in office, states that 'federal funds shall not be used to promote gender ideology.' The other, which Trump signed Jan. 28, directs agencies to ensure that institutions receiving federal dollars don't provide gender-transition treatments for people up to 19 years old. Hospital systems across the country responded by suspending gender-affirming treatment while they evaluated Trump's order, which could disrupt care for more than 300,000 transgender minors nationwide. 'That order had immediate consequences,' Joshua Block, an American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) attorney representing the plaintiffs, said at Thursday's hearing. The Justice Department contested the plaintiffs' arguments, also insisting that the case was premature and should wait for additional guidance. The judge rejected those arguments, going as far to call the government's position 'disingenuous' at one point. 'When there's smoke coming out of your house, you don't know what room it's in, but you don't wait to call 911 until you know the exact location of the fire,' Hurson said. 'These plaintiffs have received phone calls stopping their care.' Thursday's hearing in Baltimore attracted a protest outside the federal courthouse in Baltimore of more than 50 people supporting transgender rights. 'The science clearly tells us that these kids know who they are, and that affirming care is critical to their mental health,' Rebecca Wald, a psychologist and mother of a transgender teen who protested, said in an interview. Emily Heinlein, who attended the protest carrying a sign with the slogan 'Protect Health Care and Democracy,' said she felt it was important to speak up. 'I'm worried that this executive order of banning health care for one group of people is really dangerous precedent,' said Heinlein. 'And if allowed to stand, what next, health care for women will be banned? Health care for any other group of people will be banned.' Hurson won't be the only judge to weigh Trump's order. Democratic attorneys general in Washington, Minnesota and Oregon are set to ask a judge in Seattle to block one of the provisions at a hearing Friday.
