Gov. Phil Scott’s administration says it’s working to understand the impacts of a recent threat from federal health officials to pull Vermont’s funding for a sex education program if the state doesn’t remove references to gender identity from its curriculum.
It comes after the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services sent a letter to the health departments of Vermont and 45 other states and territories this week claiming their curriculum for the Personal Responsibility Education Program doesn’t align with federal guidelines.
The program, also known as PREP, teaches adolescents about preventing teen pregnancy and sexually-transmitted diseases.
HHS stripped California’s funding for the program last week when the state did not comply with the department's demands to remove what it called “radical gender ideology.” The department said in a Tuesday press release it will do the same with other states who don’t eliminate similar “ideology” and language in 60 days.
Vermont is at risk of losing $670,000 in federal funding if the state does not comply, according to data provided by the department.
“Accountability is coming,” said Andrew Gradison, acting HHS assistant secretary, in a press release. “Federal funds will not be used to poison the minds of the next generation or advance dangerous ideological agendas.”
Gradison wrote a letter to Vermont’s Health Department flagging what he said were examples from the state’s curriculum “outside the scope” of the program’s mission.
The department requested the materials Vermont uses for the curriculum back in April. Gradison thanked the state for its “timely response” in the letter.
The content flagged included language in Vermont's education materials orbiting around gender expression, statements such as, “Asking participants to tell you their pronouns is a way of creating a safe space for transgender or gender nonconforming youth.” Another item was an explanation of the different definitions of terms like gender, gender identity and gender expression.
The letter identified another portion of Vermont’s material that states, “Transgender women and cisgender women are both women. Transgender men and cisgender men are both men. The use of cisgender helps clarify that gender identity exists in both cisgender and transgender people.”
Gradison wrote these components of Vermont’s material were irrelevant to the purpose of the grant. He said federal statute “neither requires, supports nor authorizes teaching students that gender identity is distinct from biological sex or that boys can identify as girls and vice versa.”
The letter then directs the state to remove this language and any other similar language from its PREP curriculum’s material.
In a statement to Vermont Public, the Vermont Health Department said that they’re working to understand the full impact of losing funding.
“The Health Department affirms our commitment to evidence-based public health programs that reflect the needs of all Vermonters, including the LGBTQ+ community,” said Kyle Casteel, a spokesperson for the department. “Even if this funding were eliminated, it would not change the reality that LGBTQ+ people exist in Vermont, belong in Vermont and are welcome in Vermont.”
Vermont’s Secretary for the Agency of Human Services Jenney Samuelson made similar remarks at Gov. Scott’s weekly press conference Wednesday.
Samuelson noted the targeted language in PREP’s curriculum surrounding gender, sexual identity and consent was previously approved by the Biden administration.
She said the program is a voluntary program that is offered to community organizations with a curriculum that is widely accepted, given a majority of U.S. states and territories received letters from the Trump administration.
