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No fewer than 11 states and two territories have complied with a new directive from the Trump administration to eliminate references of gender identity and the existence of transgender and non-binary individuals from a federal sex education initiative, authorities confirmed.

The administration set a Monday deadline for stripping these references, threatening the loss of substantial government funding. Nearly all of the complying states have Republican-controlled state legislatures and predominantly Republican governors.

Court Battles and Financial Conflicts

Sixteen other states and the nation's capital have filed a lawsuit challenging the government's requirement, arguing it infringes on legislative power, which established the $75m sexual health initiative, known as the Personal Responsibility Education Program (Prep).

All states participating in the lawsuit are led by Democratic governors.

In a recent court order, a federal judge blocked the HHS agency, which manages the program, from withholding funding to the suing jurisdictions if they do not adhere.

“The agency does not demonstrate that the new grant conditions are reasonable, nor does it offer any valid reason, other than an excuse, for its actions,” wrote Ann Aiken, a U.S. district judge in Oregon. “HHS provides no evidence that it made informed determinations or considered the legal goals.”

Program Goals and Government Scrutiny

Prep seeks to inform adolescents on positive interactions and how to prevent unplanned parenthood and the transmission of sexually transmitted infections.

In the spring, the Trump administration demanded all states and territories receiving Prep funds to submit a version of their curriculum to the department and its agency, the Administration for Children and Families, for a health content assessment.

Four months later, the administration sent letters to 46 states and territories, informing them that, during the review, it had found “content in the educational programs that fall outside the purview of the program's legal framework.”

In particular, the administration said it had uncovered evidence of “gender-related concepts,” a term often used by conservative factions to describe the idea that identity is a changeable cultural concept and that transgender individuals are real.

Notable Cases of Requested Changes

The government directed Illinois to remove a curriculum that stated: “Adolescents may express themselves in ways that don’t conform with their assigned gender.”

It instructed North Carolina to eliminate a sentence from a educational module that stated: “People of all sexual orientations and gender identities need to know how to avoid pregnancy and STDs.”

Moreover, sex educators in numerous states could no longer be told to “show tolerance and understanding for all participants, regardless of individual traits, including ethnicity, cultural background, religion, social class, orientation or identity,” based on the notices dispatched to states.

Official Statements and Jurisdictional Reactions

“Oversight is imminent,” said a federal official, acting assistant secretary of the ACF office, in a statement. “Federal funds will not be used to poison the minds of the youth or advance harmful political doctrines.”

Several jurisdictions and territories confirmed they would eliminate the references or had completed the process. These include Alaska, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia and Wyoming, as well as the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Northern Mariana Islands.

Another pair of jurisdictions, the states, said their Prep curricula never contained the terminology referenced in the government's notices.

Effects on Adolescents and Mental Health

Together, these states are home to over 120k trans people aged 13 to 17, according to estimates from a research institute.

“If our goal is to support youth and give them a secure environment, I’m not sure why we are stomping on the most vulnerable youth in the population,” said an advocate, who heads an organization that provides sex education in Tennessee.

“If authorities state that there’s something wrong with you and the educators aren’t allowed to tell you things or they have to disclose your identity to family – when you know that that’s not secure – that’s detrimental to psychological well-being.”

Nearly half of trans and non-binary youth seriously considered suicide in the past year, according to a recent study from a suicide-prevention group. School support for these adolescents is linked to lower rates of attempted suicide, the organization found.

Earlier Incidents and Ongoing Disputes

Earlier this year, the federal government ordered a state to cut references to gender identity from its educational program.

When the jurisdiction declined, the administration withdrew its Prep grant, eliminating approximately $12m in government money and stopping health initiatives in schools, juvenile detention facilities and care facilities.

The California health department is challenging the withdrawal. To date, it has been unsuccessful in make up for the withdrawn money.

The government has additionally told instructors who obtain funding from two other federal sex education initiatives, the $50 million SRAE program and the $101 million Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program (TPPP), that they may not teach about “gender-related concepts.”

An recent court order prevented the administration from altering one program, while the latest ruling prohibits it from changing the other program in the Democratic states that sued over the initiative.

The ACF office did not immediately respond to a inquiry.