“If a presidential administration can defund an entire field of study because it disapproves of the people being studied, then no community is safe, and no scientific field is secure.”
Today, Lambda Legal filed a friend-of-the-court brief on behalf of GLMA: Health Professionals Advancing LGBTQ+ Equality, urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit to uphold a district court ruling in APHA v. NIH and Massachusetts v. Kennedy that vacated the Trump administration’s guidance prohibiting NIH-funding for research relating to LGBTQI+ health, transgender issues, or that is equity-related.
Earlier this year, following guidance from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) adopted a series of directives prohibiting funding for essential research addressing the health of sexual and gender minorities, including critical HIV research, as well as addressing health disparities of specific minority populations. As a result, the NIH cancelled hundreds of grants because the studies involved related to specific groups or gender identity. Nearly half of the grants related to LGBTQI+ people, including transgender people, while a third related to HIV research. The agency eliminated more than $800 million in research.
“By decreeing that it will not fund research addressing the health needs of LGBTQI+ people, NIH turned its back on our community and ran afoul of its statutory obligations to fund research addressing health disparities of minority population as well as sexual and gender minorities,” said Omar Gonzalez-Pagan, Senior Counsel and Health Care Strategist at Lambda Legal. “If a presidential administration can erase an entire field of study because it disapproves of the people being studied, then no community is safe, and no scientific field is secure. Just like the district court in our case, the district court in Massachusetts was correct to invalidate these discriminatory and unlawful directives. We urge the First Circuit to affirm the district court’s decision and make clear that politics cannot override evidence, public health, or the law.”
The Trump administration directives marked research involving sexual and gender minorities as illegitimate and forced NIH to shut down funding for such studies for that reason alone. The U.S. Congress requires NIH to advance research on sexual and gender minority populations, address health disparities, and prevent discrimination in federally funded programs. The administration ignored these legal duties and replaced scientific judgment with bias and exclusion.
“From HIV to cancer to mental health, federally funded LGBTQI+ health research has driven breakthroughs that benefit the entire population,” said Alex Sheldon, Executive Director of GLMA. “The directives at issue in this case rip that foundation out from under patients and providers alike. By filing this brief, GLMA is urging the court to right this wrong and ensure that NIH fulfills its legal and ethical responsibility to fund research based on scientific merit and public health need – not prejudice.”
Several individuals, organizations, and states challenged the NIH directives and resulting terminations in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts in two cases (APHA v. NIH and Massachusetts v. Kennedy), asserting similar claims under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). This is the appeal in which Lambda Legal and GLMA filed their brief today.
Separately, Lambda Legal on behalf of GLMA and 16 individual health researchers challenged the same directives in the U.S. District Court for the District Maryland in GLMA v. NIH, asserting similar APA claims as well as discrimination claims under the Affordable Care Act and the Fifth Amendment.
In June, the plaintiffs in the Massachusetts cases prevailed on their APA claims and the district court issued a judgment vacating the directives and ordering the restoration of the plaintiffs’ affected grants and the government appealed. However, in August, the U.S. Supreme Court stayed the portion of the judgment requiring restoration of the grants. This appeal followed.
In August, Lambda Legal secured a preliminary injunction under the Affordable Care Act and the Fifth Amendment, in which the district court blocked enforcement of the Trump administration’s directives against the plaintiffs in GLMA v. NIH as well as the members of GLMA and ordered NIH to reinstate their canceled LGBTQI+ health research grants, which were worth well over $100 million in research funding to be restored. The government did not appeal the injunction, which remains in effect today.
Lambda Legal remains committed to defending LGBTQ+ and transgender communities from discrimination in every area of public life. The organization will continue to protect access to evidence-based research and the health and safety of the communities it serves.
Read the amicus brief in APHA v. NIH and Massachusetts v. Kennedy here.
Read more about GLMA v. NIH here.
Read more about Massachusetts v. Kennedy here.
Read more about APHA v. NIH here.