Federal judge in RI halts restrictions on funding to groups that serve society’s vulnerable
PROVIDENCE — A federal judge has temporarily barred President Donald Trump’s administration from requiring organizations that serve some of society’s most vulnerable to align with its views on gender identity and diversity in order to receive grant funding.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island and the public policy group Democracy Forward announced on July 25 that U.S. District Court Judge Melissa R. DuBose granted a request to temporarily block the president’s administration from imposing restrictions based on diversity, equity and inclusion; gender ideology; and abortion rights to grant programs administered by the federal departments of Housing and Urban Development and Health and Human Services.
A nationwide coalition of dozens of organizations, including six from Rhode Island, sued the government on July 21 in U.S. District Court. The state groups include the Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence, House of Hope Community Development Corporation, Community Care Alliance, Foster Forward, Rhode Island Coalition to End Homelessness and Haus of Codec.
The groups hailed DuBose’s order as critical to ensuring that organizations that serve survivors of domestic and sexual abuse, LGBTQI+ youth and unhoused communities can continue their work without “being forced to abandon inclusive practices or censor support for transgender people.”
“We welcome the court’s decision to grant our motion to halt the Trump-Vance administration’s unlawful and dangerous funding restrictions,” the groups stated in a release that supported the ruling. “These conditions threaten to undermine decades of progress in supporting survivors of violence, LGBTQI+ youth and unhoused individuals. Our organizations exist to serve everyone with compassion and equity, and we will not be forced to choose between our values and mission and the communities we serve.”
The groups cast it as crucial to protecting life-saving programs and ensuring that providers across the country can continue their work without political interference.
“This ruling affirms what we have long known,” the groups stated, “that the law does not permit any government to use its funding power to force service providers to abandon their core principles.”
What’s next?
The advocacy groups will submit a proposal for the precise scope of the temporary restraining order in DuBose’s review that will focus on the organizations that must decide whether to accept the administration’s conditions as soon as July 30, according to their statement.
The groups are ultimately seeking a permanent court order that would block enforcement of the conditions, which they allege are unlawful and violate separation of powers by usurping the authority of Congress to authorize spending. They argue the policies violate the First Amendment by forcing grantees to voice the administration’s views on gender and restrict them from promoting diversity, equity and inclusion.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Federal judge in RI halts restrictions on US funding to aid groups
