Trans Inclusion in Healthcare and Sports Are Under Attack in California — Officials Blame Newsom and Trump
Funding cuts to HIV healthcare threatening thousands of queer Californians and fascist attacks against trans athletes suggest Newsom's deference to the billionaire oligarchy is only just beginning.
This article is also available on Free Radical. Follow Mira and Mady on Bluesky.
On May 5, the Los Angeles LGBT Center announced that Los Angeles County has terminated all HIV prevention contracts with community organizations, endangering the lives of thousands. One such contract was with the Los Angeles LGBT Center, providing $3.8 million for services like STI testing, community education, and lifesaving HIV prevention medication such as PrEP.
“The County’s decision to terminate all HIV prevention and STI contracts puts lives at risk and threatens to undo decades of hard-won progress in the fight against the HIV epidemic. At a time when local leadership should be standing up to the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle public health infrastructure, the County is instead choosing to act prematurely,” LA LGBT Center CEO Joe Hollendoner declared in a public press release. “This decision will trigger a public health crisis and drive up long-term costs for the County, as investing in HIV prevention is far more cost-effective than the lifelong expense of treating someone living with HIV/AIDS.”
Attacks on queer health funding at all levels
This funding comes from multiple, interconnected yet different sources. At the highest level, healthcare providers have received federal funds primarily distributed by the CDC. This includes research grants and medical care for HIV, distributed among states and major metropolitan areas. The Trump administration slashed this funding quickly after he came into office and has kept slashing since.
At the state level, a great deal of funding comes from the California state government, particularly a 2019 funding provision that guaranteed providers in the state access to millions in funding. This too has been slashed, with the administration of increasingly openly conservative Gov. Gavin Newsom not providing clear answers as to whether they would properly renew this funding, especially in light of the federal cuts.
County officials are responsible for distributing federal and state funding they receive among healthcare providers and research institutes in the county. With some exceptions such as research grants for particular universities such as UCLA, local officials control the bulk of this money. With both federal and state funding suddenly cut or withheld Los Angeles County – among many others – has sparse funding to offer local providers.
Other LA-based organizations saw similar, drastic cuts in their care, including the Community Clinic Association of LA County, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, and APLA Health.
“Calls to the CDC have gotten no response, because there aren't people there to answer the phone or respond to emails. So, we're adrift and waiting for further notice from the feds one way or the other,” Philip Curtis, the APLA director of government affairs, told LAist.
In a statement provided to MadyCast News from the LA County Department of Public Health, a representative warned that Trump’s proposed federal fiscal year 2026 budget plan would defund numerous public health programs, including those within the county. One major grant, worth $19.45 million a year, originates from the CDC’s HIV Prevention and Surveillance Cooperative Agreement in 1993. This grant expires on May 31.
“There is now significant uncertainty about the future of this funding. LA County's current grant expires on May 31, 2025, and thus far the federal government has been silent about the future of these funds,” the representative, who wrote from a nameless LA DPH handle on behalf of the organization, declared. “Without confirming its commitment to support HIV prevention efforts in the second largest HIV epidemic in the United States, the federal government is jeopardizing years of progress in stemming costly new HIV infections.”
According to data obtained by CBS News, Trump’s DOGE has cut numerous grants for HIV-related healthcare in California since they came into office. These grants funded both research into new treatments for HIV and for healthcare providers to treat patients — combining the grants reveals that hundreds of millions of dollars worth of grants have been suddenly cut from California healthcare providers virtually overnight.
MadyCast News was unable to get an answer from the CDC as to whether this funding would be revised before May 31, with the only available representative by phone advising us to send an email. In response to that email, one representative requested that MadyCast News contact Trump’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which has overseen a great deal of governmental budget cuts. OMB, which has overseen many of Trump’s budget cuts under the leadership of Project 2025 author Russell Vought, did not respond to a request for comment from MadyCast News.
“Without a federal notice of the intent to award continued HIV prevention funding, Public Health is unable to continue funding HIV prevention efforts supported by the federal grant,” the LA DPH representative added, noting that these decisions will cost the United States more in the long-run — upwards of $1 trillion in the next ten years from Los Angeles alone. As State Sen. Jacob Fraker noted to MadyCast News, the costs of treating HIV are much more involved and expensive in the long run than the costs of public health initiatives that prevent HIV transmission.
“The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health expects the federal budget cuts will have an immediate and long-lasting impact that endangers the health and well-being of people who live and work in Los Angeles County. The elimination of many public health programs will result in increased costs, more illness, and preventable deaths.”
DPH adds that it “urges Congress and the Administration to carefully review and consider the impacts of the proposed cuts and government restructuring.” Currently, the Trump administration has been silent on whether they’ll reverse these cuts, leading some to appeal to the California state legislature to step in to supplement the funding.
But this approach has a major barrier — discussions on the state budget are on hold until July. In lieu of this, the California Legislative LGBTQ Caucus sent a letter to Newsom urging him to disburse $5 million from the state’s AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) Rebate Fund, which was created to disperse emergency funding to healthcare providers in the event of an emergency. The fund currently has about $290 million remaining – while some of that cash has to go to maintaining the fund, it still has a surplus worth upwards of $200 million.
State Sen. Jacob Fraker, verified to MadyCast News that Newsom’s office has acknowledged receipt of this letter. As of time of writing, the governor’s office has not commented on whether these funds will be dispensed.
“We may be needing to do a general fund at a later date, but right now we believe there is enough money in the fund to cover the 5 million and to cover the 70 million for this next fiscal year,” Fraker said.
He added that the state legislature is currently establishing a “Plan B” in the event that Newsom does not disperse the money in time.
“In our budget negotiations, we would set up a reimbursement scheme to say that the ADAP Rebate Fund may reimburse individuals for services provided June 1, 2025 through June 30, 2025.”
Fraker emphasized that this is an imperfect plan. While it will work for large healthcare providers, such as those in San Francisco, Los Angeles, or San Diego, smaller providers in less populated counties may not be able to take on that kind of debt, even in the short-term.
“That is obviously not an ideal decision, but it’s where we’re at,” he admitted.
Neither the California legislature nor any contract holders were able to get in touch with the CDC.
“There’s no one to answer the phone,” Fraker said, alluding to potential layoffs. “Obviously, I think that is very intentional on behalf of the President and his initiatives. But even people who have had years-long working relationships with the CDC on these exact programs and contracts have not heard anything.”
On whether the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health will abide by the proposed Plan B, Fraker said that he believes that “part of the issue here is they need confirmation that they are going to get reimbursed… If they're in a situation where they feel ‘no one's confirmed for us, that we're getting funding reimbursement or otherwise,’ they're not going to be able to continue those services… If they don't have that confirmation, absolutely they will stop services.”
Fraker emphasizes that the California legislature is working on providing this official confirmation in writing. The deadline for this sort of budget is June 15. “Obviously, we’ll pass it before then,” he said. Nevertheless, drafting this properly will take time and will go well into June. He anticipates that they would not see this until “the end of the first week of June.”
This means that for up to two weeks, some providers may be unable to provide basic care “until they see budget language and then they can resume those on the assumption that services will be reimbursed. But that is only going to be for some organizations. Like I said, not all organizations are going to be able to take on any debt regardless of when they're being reimbursed, just given the size of their organization. We're hoping to have the budget language ironed out, at least this section, soon.”
This restriction in funding is not the sole source of concern among Californian healthcare providers, as Newsom’s administration is increasingly turning against funding for queer and trans community organizations as a whole. According to the LA LGBT Center, California informed its contract holders that all grantees of the 2019 LGBTQ Health Equity Fund, worth $17 million, would have their contracts terminated six months early on June 30. Additionally, the California Department of Public Health’s Gender Equity Section would be completely gutted.
“The Los Angeles LGBT Center is outraged by Governor Gavin Newsom’s decision to eliminate critical funding dedicated to the health of lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LBTQ) women, trans men, and non-binary people—populations already facing severe health disparities and systemic neglect,” the center declared in a press release. “This reversal is not just a budget adjustment—it is a betrayal of queer and trans Californians.”
They emphasized the intersectional nature of these harms, especially for queer undocumented individuals and people of color.
“In cutting this funding, Governor Newsom has chosen to sacrifice the health and dignity of those already navigating intersecting barriers of misogyny, racism, transphobia, and xenophobia—including undocumented LGBTQ+ people. These cuts, along with the pausing of enrollment for adult undocumented Californians, are a clear attack on our healthcare system and the people who depend on it.”
The LGBT Center concludes by calling on the governor to reverse this decision and to renew essential funding. Newsom’s office, when asked for inquiry on these cuts, said they aimed to provide health providers with funding - about $10 million less than the 2019 fund.
“Governor Newsom stands with the LGBTQ+ community and has been a leader in the fight to legalize marriage equality, protect vulnerable youth, and expand transgender health care access and civil rights. The funds you are referring to are expiring, one-time funds from the 2019 Budget Act. The 2025 May Revision proposes reappropriating $7.2 million included in the 2022 Budget Act. The budget continues other critical health and social safety nets for the LGBTQ+ community,” Elana Ross, Deputy Communications Director for Newsom’s office, said.
Ross added the following in a statement that she requested on background, a request which MadyCast News rejects. This statement is printed in full below:
The May Revision reappropriates $7.2 million from the Transgender Wellness and Equity Fund included in the 2022 Budget Act with availability through June 30, 2028. The funds are available to support existing programming, grant agreements, and contracts related to trans-inclusive health care for individuals who identify as transgender, gender nonconforming, or intersex. The below investments are one-time investments that are expiring consistent with the initial investment and timeline.
$5 million General Fund available through June 30, 2025. Funds were included in the 2022 Budget Act for grants to local health jurisdictions and community-based organizations for capacity and training for LGBTQ+ foster youth and approximately $4.3 million remains unspent.
$17.5 million General Fund available through June 30, 2024. Funds were included in the 2019 Budget Act for LBQ Women’s Health activities and approximately $9.8 million remains unspent.
It is unclear how either investment will make up for the millions of missing funds for trans healthcare access and sexually transmitted infection prevention efforts.
Newsom and CIF partially cave to Trump, whose DOJ launched an investigation of California anyway.
Newsom has publicly cozied up to the far-right in recent months. Free Radical recently reported on how far-right activists who align with Newsom’s position on trans athletes have spent months stalking, doxxing, and harassing a transgender child, AB Hernandez, for playing in high school sports. This publicly began with Newsom’s appearance with far-right influencer Charlie Kirk, a conversation where Hernandez was mentioned by name.
Since then, an increasingly large target has been placed on trans residents of California. Trump has personally spoken about this girl and claims he’s directly lobbied Newsom in posts on Truth Social. This ultimately culminated in a Title IX investigation into the state led by the Trump administration.
Further, Newsom and the California Interscholastic Federation, the leading regulatory body on high school sports in the state have, in a display of astounding bigotry and cruelty, implied AB Hernandez is a “biological male” by referring to cis girls as “biological females” in the announcement of a confusing set of rules that allowed cisgender girls who were “displaced” by AB Hernandez compete in the state meet. The rules also allow for two sets of winners of the girl’s competition – one cis girl, and one trans girl, if Hernandez places among the top athletes.
CIF did not respond to a request for question on what the legal, medical, and scientific basis is for using terms like “biological female” in official rules to refer to cis girls, or a question of how they would determine the “biological sex” of all girls competing, which would require expensive chromosomal karyotyping and has unclear implications for intersex girls.
California state law also prohibits state officials from disclosing the gender identity of trans kids, so CIF could potentially violate this law if their actions led to the doxxing of a trans kid’s identity. The term has no scientific meaning according to biologists, as trans girls take hormones and procedures that transition their sex to biologically female, but it is often used by liberals to misgender trans people.
While some influencers and outlets, such as journalist Erin Reed and LGBTQ Nation, have falsely referred to Newsom and CIF’s actions a “limited sports ban”, AB Hernandez, the trans athlete at the center of this controversy, is still competing with girls at the Clovis state track meet this weekend, according to the CIF program pamphlet for the competition and San Francisco Chronicle. Hernandez is not banned from competing against girls from the girl’s track and field team at her school, due to California law that restricts excluding trans kids from sports.
But the actions of CIF and Newsom to create a separate scoring for cis girls, as well as their misgendering of trans girls as “biological males,” may still violate these laws. And their partial capitulation failed to please Trump and his administration, prompting them to investigate California, the CIF, and Hernandez’s school district’s compliance with federal civil rights laws, according to the LA Times. The investigation is being led by far-right Trump appointees Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon and US Attorney Bill Essayli, both Californians who have spent years fighting against civil rights laws that protect trans people in the state before Trump.
Although Gov. Newsom has publicly railed against trans rights rhetorically and in his actions throughout the past year, California Attorney General Rob Bonta has remained supportive of trans rights due to pressure from grassroots activists, protecting the state from legal threats.
Earlier this year, Bonta wrote a letter to the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles pressuring them to resume trans healthcare for minors after they abruptly ceased its provision in light of Trump’s early executive orders. He reminded them of state laws against anti-trans medical discrimination, after local activists organized weekly protests against the hospital. The LA Times reported that his office stated that it remained “committed to defending and upholding California laws” last Wednesday, signalling that Bonta is likely to defend the rights of trans athletes against any potential lawsuits.
Maine, facing similar threats to funding from Trump over a single athlete, won an early legal battle against a similar action by the Trump administration last month. However, if the DOJ files a lawsuit and succeeds, it could potentially lead to the repeal of AB 1266, a key law that protects trans inclusion in sports, and force California to institute a trans sports ban. The United States Supreme Court has yet to rule on trans inclusion in sports, but may be the final arbiter of the issue.
The root of the problem: Oligarchy
Newsom’s recent ideological change reveals a fundamental problem with America’s two-party oligarchic electoral system – regardless of when Democrats may seem to be on the side of basic trans rights, support will always be conditional on political expediency. Individual political actors may be resistant to crawling under the fascist umbrella, but collectively the Democratic party has a vested interest in maintaining the status quo of the United States – one of repression and inequality, with the marginalized groups deemed the biggest threat at the bottom.
If the Democratic governor of California, a state where the party holds all major levers of political power, can betray queer people so viciously on HIV healthcare, trans healthcare, rights for dignity in prisons,and rights to equal participation in school activities, why should any queer person ever trust them again?
This is not new. Many radical anti-authoritarians have called out the actions of Democrats as well as Republicans for vindictive cruelty, bigotry and causing needless suffering across the globe. As long as America has existed there have always been people under its boot, Today is no exception. Any actor who works to maintain America’s interests fundamentally only cares about the interests of the elite, or at best expanding who can be accepted into the elite.
The solution is a simple one, and yet is a hard pill to swallow for many due to the true change it requires – radical action that usurps the authoritarian, capitalistic structuring of society and reforges it into one grounded in equality and justice. So long as there is a state that uses boots and guns to squash resistance, there will never be justice, for the state itself is antithetical to this. So long as there is a centralization of wealth, there will never be liberation – because the moment we become unnecessary to those in power is the moment we get discarded.
Queer activists must learn from our roots. Activists with ACT UP, who successfully saved millions of queer lives from HIV/AIDS globally, provided a blueprint for those looking to create similar groups earlier this year in interviews with MadyCast News. The goal of grassroots activists should be to learn from the experiences of those in the past, recognizing them as the most effective tactics to counter the heavy assaults on our freedoms. The state will use every tool it has to restrict us and to attack our lives. It’s time we recognize what tools we have, and how we need to use them.
Things may be rough in the short-term, but authoritarianism is not inevitable, and it is certainly not omnipotent. Every empire falls, and the more violent its restrictions are, the more it is desperate to maintain its stranglehold on power. Solutions are there, and it is possible for us all to seek liberation, but we must do it together.
Activists have long advised that the solution lies within your local community. Guides exist on how you can resist and protect yourself, your loved ones, and your neighbors from the increasingly hostile genocidal attacks of the fascist Trump administration and their compliant quislings like Governor Newsom. Power, above all else, relies on the people, and the sooner that we recognize that we do not need to rely on capital and the state to save us, the sooner we all can thrive.
Liberation for all, not just the few.
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I have to push back on one remark in your otherwise informative piece entitled "Newsom and CIF partially cave to Trump."
First, you write that Erin Reed and LGBTQ Nation "falsely" referred to the actions taken as a “limited sports ban” even as you yourself call it a "partial capitulation," which strikes me as a distinction without a difference.
More to the point, you, I won't say falsely but surely incorrectly, say AB Hernandez "is not banned from competing against girls from the girl’s track and field team at her school."
But, as you acknowledge, the plans "create a separate scoring" for cis and trans girls - which means that while Hernandez may be competing *with* other girls, i.e., in the same event on the same field, she is not competing *against* them in any meaningful sense of the word. And that is without even considering the question of interscholastic meets.
Again, the piece was quite informative, but calling a policy that actively restricts the ability of a trans girl to actually compete in sport a “limited ban” is entirely appropriate.