Attorney General Kwame Raoul, alongside 11 other attorneys general, has taken legal action against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), as reported by the Illinois Attorney General's Office. The lawsuit alleges that the HHS is unlawfully leveraging billions of federal funds to coerce states into adopting policies that discriminate against transgender individuals. This new HHS policy necessitates that funding recipients certify compliance with a presidential executive order that aims to deny the existence of transgender people through narrow, unscientific definitions of sex.
Under this new directive, federal funds are now being held by a policy that discriminates based on gender identity. "The Trump administration is attempting to hold billions of dollars hostage in an attempt to force states to exclude and discriminate against people who are transgender," Raoul said, ad per the Illinois Attorney General's Office announcement. The policy not only applies to future grants but also to existing ones, which puts currently running programs in jeopardy.
Illinois, among other states, stands to lose critical funding for programs like suicide prevention and support for individuals with HIV, which are crucial for the well-being of LGBTQ+ residents, Raoul emphasized. "Everyone deserves to live authentically, and I will continue to push back against the administration’s repeated and cruel attempts to erase transgender Americans," he remarked, as outlined in the Illinois Attorney General's Office announcement. The lawsuit alleges that the HHS policy is illegitimate under various legal frameworks, including the Administrative Procedure Act, federal law violations, and constitutional overreach by bypassing Congress's control over funding.
According to the Illinois Attorney General's Office, the president's executive order is at odds with the laws of many states, like Illinois, which protect transgender individuals' rights through the Illinois Human Rights Act. The chorus of states opposing the HHS policy now includes California, Colorado, Delaware, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington.
