Move comes after state refused to remove gender identity, trans and nonbinary references from sex-ed curriculum
The Trump administration has terminated a grant that provided millions of dollars for a California sex education program after the state refused to remove all references to gender identity, transgender people and nonbinary people from its curriculum.
Advocates fear more states could lose more money in a burgeoning war between the Trump administration and supporters of comprehensive sex ed.
In June, the federal Administration for Children and Families warned California that it had 60 days to remove the references from the curriculum for the state’s Personal Responsibility Education Program (Prep), a federally funded sex-ed program that aims to prevent pregnancy and childhood STIs. It argued that such references were outside the program’s scope.
On Tuesday, California notified the Trump administration that it would not change its Prep curriculum, arguing that the materials were medically accurate, necessary to help prepare young people for the complexities of adult relationships and had already been approved by the Administration for Children and Families. Moreover, the letter argued, its materials were in line with the law, while the administration’s threat was not.
