Today, the State Department issued rules aimed at preventing taxpayer dollars from funding DEI and gender ideology initiatives overseas.
These rules are a critical step toward ensuring that Americans are not subsidizing discriminatory programs, radical identity politics, and harmful medical interventions on children.
One rule, “Combating Gender Ideology in Foreign Assistance,” adds new requirements to grant awards aimed at ensuring that recipients of State Department dollars do not spend these funds on promoting various tenets of gender ideology, with a particular focus on minors.
In particular, the rule targets organizations that provide sex-denying medical interventions for minors. It prevents funds from going toward any organization that “either offers counseling regarding sex change surgeries, promotes sex change surgeries for any reason as an option, conducts or subsidizes sex change surgeries, promotes the use of medications or other substances to halt the onset of puberty or sexual development of minors, or otherwise promotes transgenderism.”
The rule also cites the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) 2025 report, which found that there is no solid evidence to support sex-denying medical interventions on minors, and that these interventions may impose serious long-term harms (such as infertility) on children.
This rule reflects the reality that so-called “gender-affirming care” is harmful to children, and that the federal government has no business funding these harms.
Another rule, “Combating Discriminatory Equity Ideology in Foreign Assistance,” adds requirements to grant awards with the intent to prevent recipients of State Department funds from engaging in discriminatory DEI practices.
Under the rule, recipients of certain State Department awards agree that they will not “promote discriminatory equity ideology, engage in unlawful DEI-related discrimination, or provide financial support to any other foreign NGO or IO that conducts such activities.”
The rule defines “Discriminatory equity ideology” as an “ideology that treats individuals as members of preferred or disfavored groups, rather than as individuals, and minimizes agency, merit, and capability in favor of generalizations.”
Considering how many health-focused organizations are funded by State Department grants, this rule will provide essential protections to ensure that taxpayer dollars are not subsidizing initiatives that degrade the quality of healthcare and that subject patients to unequal treatment.
Do No Harm applauds these rules.
It’s critical that the federal government not only cuts off funding for radical identity politics, but ensures recipients of grant awards are not themselves ideological actors.
