US judge blocks Trump administration’s attempt to defund ‘essential’ LGBTQ+ health research

A US district court judge has blocked the Trump administration’s attempt to terminate research grants funding essential health research for sexual and gender minorities – including ‘critical’ HIV research.

The US District Court judge for the District of Maryland blocked The National Institutes of Health from defunding LGBTQ+ health researcher GLMA: Health Professionals Advancing LGBTQ+ Equality and 16 other individual health researchers (1 Aug).

The National Institutes of Health is part of the Trump administration’s US Department of Health and Human Services, and is the nation’s medical research agency; it is led by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

The ruling followed two hearings, in GLMA v. NIH – the lawsuit filed by Lambda Legal, as well as Crowell & Moring LLP and Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP on behalf of GLMA.

The filing claimed that all 17 researcher’s “funding was eliminated” or their “grant applications have been unlawfully withheld from review,” according to a release from Lambda Legal.

The US District courst held that “such actions unlawfully discriminated against LGBTQI+ health researchers in violation of the Fifth Amendment’s equal protection component and Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act.”

Following the ruling, Omar Gonzalez-Pagan, Senior Counsel and Health Care Strategist at Lambda Legal, said: “The court saw NIH’s directives prohibiting funding for research specifically related transgender people’s health and the intersectional health needs of LGBTQI+ people as what they are: discriminatory actions that violate our constitution and federal law.

“With today’s ruling granting a preliminary injunction, our plaintiffs can continue with their critical research while our case challenging these harmful actions proceeds. We will continue our fight not to allow this administration to return us to the dark days when our federal government ignored the health needs of LGBTQI+ people.” 

The termination of the grants was announced by the NIH as a direct result of Trump’s executive orders scrapping DEI (Diversity, equality and inclusion) initiatives, and targeting (or even recognising) transgender individuals.

Alex Sheldon, Executive Director of GLMA, said: “Today’s ruling affirms what health professionals have made clear for decades: LGBTQ+ health research is not optional; it is essential.”

They added: “NIH’s attempt to defund this work was never about science; it was an effort to erase transgender people, LGBTQ+ communities, and the researchers committed to our health. By halting these unlawful terminations, the court has protected both the integrity of public health research and the careers of those advancing it.”

According to Lamda Legal, NIH (under Robert Kennedy, Jr.) has cancelled or gutted 669 grants. At least 323 of these addressed the health of sexual and gender minority groups.  

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