Trump Administration Cuts California Sex Ed Funding Over Gender Identity Content
Women rights activists in Los Angeles on May 21, 2019, protested against restrictions on abortions after Alabama passed the most restrictive abortion bans in the U.S. A federal funding cutoff threatens California’s sex education program for at-risk youth after the state refused to remove lessons on gender identity, impacting thousands of students and nonprofits. (Ronen Tivony/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
The Trump Administration last week canceled funding for a California sexual health education program serving homeless, foster care and incarcerated youth, alleging it is an “attempt to indoctrinate children with gender ideology.”
At issue is California’s curricula, which teach that gender identity can differ from biological sex and that trans and nonbinary people exist.
“We know that trans people exist and we know that there are trans kids in our schools,” said Perryn Reis, a longtime sex and puberty educator. “They need to feel included and seen in the curriculum and ultimately to try to decrease bullying, to try to increase comfort for them in their school communities.”
California law requires public and charter schools to teach comprehensive, inclusive and medically accurate sex and relationship education, including information about gender, gender expression and gender identity, a California Department of Public Health spokesperson said in a statement.
The California Personal Responsibility Education Program, known as CA PREP, provides grants to 20 schools and local nonprofits to offer classes, reaching about 13,000 youth annually across the state.
“California’s students deserve access to educational information and materials that help them make healthy decisions about sexual activity, including the decision to delay sexual activity, while honoring and respecting their dignity, including gender identity,” CDPH said in a statement. “California maintains its position that the curriculum is medically accurate, comprehensive, and age-appropriate.”
A demonstrator holds a sign for women’s rights while marching with hundreds who came out to protest along 24th Street for the People’s March in San Francisco’s Mission District, on Jan. 18, 2025. The protesters represent several causes, including the war in Gaza, women’s rights, targeting of undocumented people, minorities and more, part of a nationwide day of action protesting President-elect Donald Trump’s second term. (David M. Barreda/KQED)
In the Bay Area, Health Initiatives for Youth was awarded $274,398 for services in Alameda County.
The curricula used by CA PREP were previously reviewed and approved by the federal Administration for Children and Families, but the Trump administration is now revoking that approval. California is now about $5.8 million in federal funding for local organizations and schools.
That loss will likely fall on the grantees who serve high-needs children, who are already struggling financially, Reis said.
“I don’t know who’s going to make up the funding,” Reis said. “I think there’s just going to be a lack of services for our young people, and I think the burden will fall more on our state government to make up the funding or on schools … to make up the difference to either train teachers or hire outside folks to come in and teach a sex ed curriculum, or then they wouldn’t be in compliance with the Ed code.”
Of the California grantees losing funding, three are Planned Parenthood affiliates.
Shelby McMichael with the Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California called the cuts an attack not only on reproductive health care, but also “a clear attack on California and its values.”
“Make no mistake, these cuts will cause harm: unplanned teen pregnancies will go up, the STI crisis will worsen, and countless youth across the state will be deprived of the knowledge they need to make the decisions that are best for their health, relationships, and lives,” McMichael said.
California has 30 days to appeal, but CDPH has not confirmed whether or not it will do so.
In a letter to the federal Administration for Children and Families before the funding cutoff, Matthew Green with the Center for Family Health at CDPH said the department would not change its curricula.
Hundreds gathered outside the Phillip Burton Federal Building in San Francisco on May 3, 2022, in support of abortion rights after the Supreme Court’s draft opinion of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization was leaked. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)
“The materials are medically accurate and directly relevant to the purposes of personal responsibility education programs set out in the authorizing statute,” Green wrote. “In short, CDPH will continue to comply with federal and California law regarding personal responsibility and sexual health education of youth and pupils in the state.”
California is one of just five states that require comprehensive sex education in schools by law.
Reis said she hopes California stands strong and continues to offer trans-inclusive sex education.
“None of the curricula out there are trying to change people’s mind or they’re trying to get kids to go through operations or things like that,” she said. “It’s just about recognizing the diversity in the world and that our world is really diverse … and our bodies are really diverse.”