A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from terminating crucial health research grants focused on LGBTQ+ communities, including those related to HIV prevention and care.
On 1 August, the U.S. District Court in Maryland issued a preliminary injunction against the National Institutes of Health (NIH), preventing it from defunding GLMA: Health Professionals Advancing LGBTQ+ Equality and 16 other individual researchers. The court found that the NIH’s actions were likely unlawful and discriminatory.
The legal challenge, GLMA v. NIH, was brought forward by Lambda Legal, alongside law firms Crowell & Moring LLP and Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP. Plaintiffs argued that NIH had either eliminated existing research funding or blocked the peer-review process for new grant applications related to LGBTQ+ health, in direct violation of their constitutional rights and federal law.
Ruling Finds NIH Acted with Bias
The court found NIH’s decision breached both the Fifth Amendment’s equal protection guarantee and Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, which prohibits discrimination in federally funded health programs.
According to Lambda Legal, the cuts came in the wake of executive orders signed by President Donald Trump, which targeted diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives — particularly those supporting transgender and queer communities.
“NIH’s directives prohibiting funding for research specifically related to transgender people’s health and the intersectional health needs of LGBTQI+ people are discriminatory actions that violate our constitution and federal law,” said Omar Gonzalez-Pagan, Lambda Legal’s Senior Counsel and Health Care Strategist.
“With today’s ruling, our plaintiffs can continue with their critical research while our case challenging these harmful actions proceeds,” he added. “We will not allow this administration to erase our health needs.”
Effort to Erase LGBTQ+ People, Not Protect Public Health
The NIH, under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., had previously announced the grant terminations as part of its compliance with Trump’s executive order dismantling DEI policies across federal agencies.
In total, NIH has cancelled or reduced 669 research grants, with at least 323 of them focused on the health of sexual and gender minorities, according to Lambda Legal.
Alex Sheldon, Executive Director of GLMA, welcomed the court’s decision:
“Today’s ruling affirms what health professionals have made clear for decades: LGBTQ+ health research is not optional; it is essential.”
“NIH’s attempt to defund this work was never about science,” Sheldon said. “It was an effort to erase transgender people, LGBTQ+ communities, and the researchers committed to our health.”
The court’s decision ensures that research addressing LGBTQ+ healthcare — from HIV to mental health disparities — can continue while the broader legal challenge unfolds.
