Trump threatens to cut funding to California schools that don’t follow his anti-transgender policy

Washington (EFE).— U.S. President Donald Trump threatened on Thursday to withhold funding from schools in the state of California that do not follow his policies regarding transgender individuals, which, since his return to the White House, have focused on rolling back rights for this community.

“Any California school district that does not comply with our transgender policies will not receive funding,” he wrote in a short message on his Truth Social network.

Most public school funding comes from state and local sources. According to ED100, a California-based education blog, federal funding typically accounts for between 8% and 10% of the state’s education budget.

One such federal grant has already been canceled by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

According to a representative from the Administration for Children and Families—a division of HHS—who spoke to Fox News on Thursday, they terminated the grant for California’s sex education program because the state refused to remove “radical gender ideology” from its curriculum.

“California’s refusal to comply with federal law and remove the egregious gender ideology from federally funded sex education materials is unacceptable,” said Andrew Gradison, acting secretary of that office.

The defunded program, California’s Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP), aimed to prevent teen pregnancies and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.

“The Trump Administration will not allow taxpayer dollars to be used to indoctrinate children,” Gradison added.

Additionally, California has not yet changed its law that allows trans athletes to compete in girls’ school sports, despite Trump signing an order banning it—a move that was upheld by the Supreme Court.

However, California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, stated that he sees it as “unfair” for trans women to compete in women’s sports, a stance closer to that of the Trump Administration.

Since returning to the White House, the Republican president has taken action at least four times against the LGTBIQ+ community: eliminating legal recognition of non-binary individuals by establishing that only “two sexes” exist in the U.S., discontinuing passports with an “X” gender marker, banning trans women from competing in women’s sports, and excluding trans individuals from the Armed Forces.

Furthermore, the administration has issued subpoenas to around twenty specialists and medical centers involved in gender reassignment procedures for minors.

And according to a report published Wednesday by The New York Times, they are also seeking confidential patient information from those who have received therapies such as puberty blockers, hormones, and/or surgeries.