Trump administration cuts California grant over transgender policies

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The Trump administration on Thursday terminated a grant for a program in California intended to prevent teenage pregnancy and childhood sexually transmitted infections, saying the state refused to remove "radical gender ideology" from its curriculum.

The Personal Responsibility Education Program educates young people on abstinence and contraception to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, with particular focus on children who are homeless or living in foster care or in areas with high teen birth rates.

The grant was worth $12 million, said Andrew Gradison, an acting assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

"If you continue to push radical ideology on our children, we will not pay for it anymore," he told Fox & Friends, saying the program included "radical gender ideology" without providing details.

Gradison said his department is near completion of a review of every state's curriculum, adding that by early next week, nearly 40 states will be notified that they need to change their curriculum or face the same consequences.

It is the latest salvo in the Trump administration's fight against transgender rights as well as the state of California, led by Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom. Representatives for Newsom's office could not be immediately reached.

The White House said in a statement on Thursday that U.S. President Donald Trump is committed to "protecting students from indoctrination" and empowering parents.

“California’s schools have become hotbeds of woke ideology and have been held hostage by the failed liberal leadership of Gavin Newsom and the teachers’ unions that own the Democrat Party," it said.

Before the announcement, Trump said on social media that any California school district that does not adhere to his administration's transgender policies will not receive federal funding, but gave no other details.

U.S. schools receive the vast majority of their funding through local and state sources, but do receive some money from the federal government.

Trump's administration sued California in July over its policy allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls' school sports, alleging it was a violation of federal anti-discrimination laws.

The Republican president signed a directive in February to strip federal funding from any school that allows transgender women or girls to compete in female sports.

(Reporting by Susan Heavey in Washington, additional reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Chicago and Gursimran Kaur in Bengaluru; Editing by Alex Richardson, Ros Russell, Donna Bryson and Mark Porter)

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