Upon taking office in January, President Trump unleashed a flurry of executive orders, many of which were designed to end diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs on the federal level and withhold federal funding from organizations that didn’t end their DEI initiatives. One of those executive orders targeting funding for several LGBTQ nonprofits has hit a roadblock after a federal judge ruled they’re unconstitutional.
According to NBC News, U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar ruled that the funding restrictions in the executive orders “reflect an effort to censor constitutionally protected speech and services promoting DEI and recognizing the existence of transgender individuals.” The case was brought forth by several LGBTQ+ organizations who said they wouldn’t be able to achieve their core missions under the president’s executive orders, which they believed were unconstitutionally vague in their wording and infringed on their First Amendment rights.
The plaintiffs argue that Congress, not the president, has the ability to decide how congressionally appointed funds are dispersed. Lawyers for the government have countered that Trump is allowed to “align government funding and enforcement strategies” with his policies. Which, like, sure, but when those policies seem to be infringing on people’s Constitutional rights, you can’t be surprised when you run into problems.
“While the executive requires some degree of freedom to implement its political agenda, it is still bound by the Constitution,” Tigar wrote. “It cannot weaponize Congressionally appropriated funds to single out protected communities for disfavored treatment or suppress ideas that it does not like or has deemed dangerous.”
While the ruling mostly went in favor for the LGBTQ organizations, the judge declined to block several provisions in the executive orders.
From Courthouse News Service:
The judge did not block one of the White House’s provisions that required the foundation to verify its DEI initiatives comply with federal anti-discrimination statutes, saying the plaintiffs haven’t shown that this part of the order goes beyond targeting programs that violate federal law.
Additionally, of the total nine provisions challenged across President Donald Trump’s executive orders, the judge ruled the LGBTQ+ organizations lacked standing to challenge five of them, including one which orders that “intimate spaces designated for women, girls, or females” are designated by sex and not identity.
The San Francisco AIDS Foundation, one of the plaintiffs in the case, received a five-year, $1.3 million grant in 2023 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) specifically meant to enhance their sexual health services and prevention work within minority and LGBTQ communities most impacted by disparities in sexual healthcare. Yet in April, the CDC sent a memo to the nonprofit informing them they must “immediately terminate all programs, personnel, activities, or contracts” promoting DEI or “gender ideology.”
Gay and bisexual men make up the majority of most new HIV/AIDS cases, so that mandate essentially defeats the core purpose of the AIDS Foundation. Considering Grindr, a LGBTQ focused dating app, allegedly saw a 166% increase in activity during the Republican National Convention, you’d think they would have a vested self-interest in ensuring these nonprofits in particular stay funded.
File that under reason no. 476 as to why I believe the Republican party is a death cult.
This ruling raises questions about the legality of the many executive orders the Trump administration has issued targeting DEI in corporate spaces and higher education. The Department of Education has launched a similar assault on universities nationwide, sending a “Dear Colleague” letter threatening to pull federal funding from schools that don’t comply with the Trump administration’s anti-DEI stance. They even launched a whole task force to pull federal funding from universities that aren’t complying with the terms of the letter.
I love that taxpayer dollars, which could be spent on feeding hungry kids and housing the unhoused, are instead funding this idiocy.
Look, I’m no constitutional scholar (hell, I went to film school, so I’m barely a scholar at all), but all these attacks on DEI feel like a direct assault on the First Amendment that everyone’s just gone along with. Republicans don’t have anything resembling a backbone or basic sense of morality, and few Democrats who aren’t named Jasmine Crockett, Cory Booker, or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez seem to have the dog in them needed to fight this unsurprising and completely predictable moment in American history.
Hopefully, this ruling is the first of many that help stem the tide of the Trump administration’s non-stop barrage of nonsense.
SEE ALSO:
Affinity Graduations Canceled Amid Trump’s DEI Crackdown
Poll Shows Companies Maintaing DEI Intiatives Have Better Reputations
Federal Judge Blocks Trump EO Pulling Federal Funds From LGBTQ Health Nonprofits
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