This is Lambda Legal’s fourth lawsuit challenging lawless and outrageous executive orders issued by the Trump administration. This lawsuit was filed on behalf of multiple non-profits that serve the LGBTQ+ community, work to end the HIV epidemic, and record the history of LGBTQ+ people.
Today, multiple LGBTQ, Health, and HIV organizations sued the Trump Administration represented by Lambda Legal challenging three executive orders that together seek to erase transgender people from public life, defund the organizations that provide them with life-saving services, and terminate equity-related grants essential to the health and lives of other underserved communities, including communities of color, and people living with HIV.
Filed by Lambda Legal, the lawsuit challenges Trump’s executive order no. 14168, which repudiates the very existence of transgender people and prohibits federal contractors and grantees from recognizing and respecting their identities or advocating for their civil rights. The lawsuit also challenges executive orders no. 14151 and 14173, which terminate equity-related grants and prohibit federal contractors and grantees from employing diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility principles in their work.
The nonprofit organizations involved in the lawsuit include four organizations based in California (San Francisco AIDS Foundation, Los Angeles LGBT Center, GLBT Historical Society, San Francisco Community Health Center); one in Arizona (Prisma Community Care); one in New York (The NYC LGBT Community Center); one in Pennsylvania (Bradbury-Sullivan Community Center); one in Maryland (Baltimore Safe Haven); and one in Wisconsin (FORGE).
The lawsuit comes after federal agencies sent notices terminating federal funding to organizations serving transgender people and to entities whose work could be described as “equity-related” because they devote resources to underserved communities, address health disparities, or work to overcome systemic racism, sexism, or anti-LGBTQ bias. Some already have experienced temporary difficulties accessing their federal funds.
“These executive orders pose an existential threat to transgender people and the organizations that advocate for them and provide them shelter, community, and support. Plaintiffs are HIV service organizations, community centers, and healthcare facilities whose work saves lives, in addition to a historical society whose mission is to record the stories of LGBTQ people. They join this lawsuit to fight the Trump administration’s attempt to erase transgender people from public life, and to continue the services they provide to marginalized communities, including communities of color and people living with HIV,” said Jose Abrigo, Lambda Legal’s HIV Project Director and lead lawyer on the lawsuit.
The orders severely harm nonprofit organizations’ ability to provide programs and services, such as HIV treatment and prevention, sexual and reproductive health screenings and services, youth programs, homelessness prevention, mental health, employment, and many others.
The lawsuit, San Francisco AIDS Foundation v. Trump, filed in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of California, argues the executive orders violate the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment by limiting the organizations’ free speech, the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause, and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment; as well as the Administrative Procedures Act.
This is Lambda Legal’s fourth lawsuit against the Trump Administration and the second one against these three executive orders. Yesterday, Lambda Legal filed a similar lawsuit alongside LDF challenging the same three executive orders and representing nonprofits AIDS Foundation Chicago, the National Urban League, and the National Fair Housing Alliance.
Background
This is the second time that Lambda Legal has sued the Trump administration over DEI policies. In 2020, in Diversity Center v. Trump, Lambda Legal sued the first Trump Administration challenging a similar executive order that prohibited federal contractors and grantees from conducting workplace diversity trainings or engaging in grant-funded work that explicitly acknowledges and confronts the existence of structural racism and sexism in our society. Lambda Legal succeeded in blocking that executive order in court.
PLAINTIFFS QUOTES:
San Francisco AIDS Foundation
“Our values are not for sale. Our mission is not up for negotiation. And our community will not be erased to satisfy a hateful political agenda,” said Tyler TerMeer, PhD, CEO of San Francisco AIDS Foundation. “For more than 40 years, SFAF has stood on the frontlines of the fight for justice—and today, we take that fight to the courts. This lawsuit is our declaration: We will not comply with discrimination. We will not abandon those who count on us. And we will not stop fighting until every person—no matter their identity—has the right to live with dignity, safety, and respect.”
Los Angeles LGBT Center.
“This historic case is about an existential threat to the TGNBI+ community—it is a fight for fundamental human rights, dignity, and the very lives of those most vulnerable in our community,” said Joe Hollendoner, CEO of the Los Angeles LGBT Center. “For too long, the TGNBI+ community has faced systemic discrimination and the denial of essential medical care. Now, the government is escalating these injustices, seeking to federally erase the very existence of TGNBI+ identity in what can only be described as a calculated and dangerous attack on LGBTQ rights. Today is proof that we will not idly stand by. We will fight—through the courts and on every front necessary— to mobilize and ensure that all of our community can access the services and care they need to live freely, safely, and authentically and no part of our community is left behind.”
The NYC LGBT Community Center
“The NYC LGBT Community Center has been a lifeline for the entire LGBTQ+ community for 42 years, especially those who face systemic barriers to safety, healthcare, community connections, and opportunity. We joined this lawsuit because these executive orders threaten the vital services we provide to one of the nation’s largest and most diverse LGBTQ+ communities and are an affront to us all. We will not allow the erasure of transgender people. The Center is clear: We will fight to ensure every transgender person and every member of our community knows they are seen, valued, and supported,” says Dr. Carla Smith, Chief Executive Officer, The New York City LGBT Community Center.
San Francisco Community Health Center
“The impacts of these Executive Orders will be devastating for our health center. We serve over 5,000 clients, 25% of whom are transgender or gender non-conforming, with lifesaving, dignity-filled primary care, dental, and behavioral health care. Everything we do addresses health disparities and racial inequities that have long inflicted harm on LGBTQ people of color, the HIV community, and the homeless community. Our programs and services are designed to correct these harms, and if taken away, our communities will be left without a safety net, and we will have lost four decades of investments and resources.” said Lance Toma, CEO of San Francisco Community Health Center.
Baltimore Safe Haven
“Baltimore Safe Haven condemns the recent executive orders that directly harm the communities we serve, creating a catastrophic ripple effect on already marginalized populations. These orders threaten access to housing, harm reduction services, sexual health screenings, and life-sustaining treatment, while also jeopardizing the jobs of our dedicated staff—many of whom are directly impacted by these devastating policies,” said Iya Dammons, Executive Director of Baltimore Safe Haven. “No Executive Order can erase the resilience and dignity of transgender people or the realities of how racism, transphobia, homophobia, and sexism create barriers preventing TLGBQIA+ people from accessing the basic necessities they need to thrive. Baltimore Safe Haven remains committed to advocating for and serving our community, no matter the challenges ahead.”
CEO of Prisma Community Care
“The ongoing uncertainty around Prisma Community Care’s federal funding has put our operations, staff, and patient-centered care at significant risk,” said Jessyca Leach, CEO of Prisma Community Care. “Balancing evidence-based care with shifting federal mandates forces us into an untenable position that will harm the patients we are committed to serving and our community.”
FORGE
“Trans and nonbinary people are scared and hurting – not only from the high levels of violence so many of us experience every day, but also because of the dehumanizing, erasing, and damaging impact of the Executive Orders. For the past 30 years, FORGE has been committed to serving trans survivors of sexual assault, stalking, and hate-fueled harm. We are not going anywhere,” said michael munson, Executive Director of FORGE. “Conditioning federal funding on rejecting transgender identity and DEI not only harms trans people, but it also creates a world that is less safe and less free for us all.”
GLBT Historical Society
“These executive orders seek to erase the very existence and the rich history of the LGBTQ+ community by targeting the most vulnerable among us. As an LGBTQ+ archive and museum, our mission has always been to preserve and share our stories and to fight back against erasure,” said Roberto Ordeñana, Executive Director, GLBT Historical Society. “Let me be clear: stripping the words ‘Transgender’ and ‘Queer’ from government websites and publications is nothing less than digital book burning. Our history and culture bind us together, and no one can take that away.”
Read more about the case here: https://lambdalegal.org/case/san-francisco-aids-foundation-v-trump/