DC, Maryland sue Trump over order to remove 'gender ideology' from sex ed materials

BALTIMORE, Md. - Washington, D.C. and Maryland have joined a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services over an order from the Trump administration that threatens to withhold federal grants for sexual education.

The backstory:

The lawsuit surrounds Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP) grants, which states use to create sexual education programs, in an effort to lower teen pregnancy rates and the spread of sexually transmitted infections.

In August, HHS sent letters to 46 states and territories, demanding that they remove all references to "gender ideology" from any programs that are funded using PREP grants, or have the money taken away. 

SUGGESTED: Loudoun County Public Schools violated Title IX, Education Department says

"States and territories… are now on notice: failure to comply will result in similar enforcement actions including the withholding, suspension, or termination of federal PREP funding," a department press release read.

What they're saying:

Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown accused the Trump administration of "playing politics with the health and safety of young Marylanders, threatening to gut sexual health education programs that prevent teen pregnancy and HIV."

According to Brown's office, the Trump administration's order contradicts many state requirements that sexual education programs include gender-inclusive language. 

"Congress created the grant programs with clear statutory requirements that are at direct odds with the Trump administration’s baseless insistence that gender is absolute, fixed, and binary, and that any reference to transgender status or gender identity must be erased altogether," Brown's office wrote in a press release Friday.

The other side:

After issuing the order to states in August, HHS Acting Assistant Secretary Andrew Gradison said that the order was meant to serve as "accountability."

"Federal funds will not be used to poison the minds of the next generation or advance dangerous ideological agendas," Gradison said. "The Trump Administration will ensure that PREP reflects the intent of Congress, not the priorities of the left."

Big picture view:

Fifteen other states have joined the lawsuit, including Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai'i, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington and Wisconsin.