The nation’s LGBTQ research field is collapsing.

In recent weeks, academics who focus on improving the health of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer Americans have been subjected to waves of grant cancellations from the National Institutes of Health. More than 270 grants totaling at least $125 million of unspent funds have been eliminated, though the true sum is likely much greater, researchers told NBC News. 

Cancellation letters obtained by NBC News often vaguely state that the research in question no longer suits NIH priorities. Some allude to executive orders issued by President Donald Trump, including one that effectively bars recognition of transgender identities and another forbidding diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, initiatives. Other LGBTQ-focused grants have been swept up in the Trump administration’s broadsides against Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania. Academics fear more cancellations as the administration targets Harvard University.

Hundreds of researchers, many of them panicked, have watched as the system that supports their life’s work — to address the myriad health disparities faced by sexual and gender minorities — has been upended. Many of them suddenly face potential unemployment and a job market rendered bleak by the Trump administration’s efforts to downsize funding for academic research. 

On Tuesday, mass layoffs across the Department of Health and Human Services included the gutting of programs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that surveil the HIV epidemic among gay men in particular, according to a CDC official who asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals. The Trump administration also eliminated a lab that conducts specialized testing of and assessment for drug resistance among bacterial sexually transmitted infections, including syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia, which are especially prevalent in gay men, according to another CDC official who similarly asked to remain anonymous. 

“This has been a devastating experience,” said Brian Mustanski, a psychologist and director of the Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago.

Mustanski, a pioneer in LGBTQ health research, built his program into a powerhouse, with his team cultivating some of the most robust data on gay and trans Americans in history. Now, he’s seen much of the institute topple in weeks and has been desperately seeking other positions for many of the half of his 120-person team who were supported by the grants.

The NIH’s new director, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, said in an emailed statement Wednesday that the agency remains “committed to supporting research aimed at improving the health and well-being of every American” but noted that it would be shifting its priorities “away from politicized DEI and gender ideology studies” in accordance with the president’s executive orders. 

The White House did not respond to a request for comment. The CDC had no comment.

‘An incredible lack of transparency’
Transgender people face clear erasure from the national research agenda. As for gay people, the White House’s initial, narrow attention on trans populations in its executive orders suggested it might leave gays untouched. But the Trump administration’s justification of NIH grant rejections based on what it perceives as the employment of DEI principles in academia has ensnared many research grants focused on gay populations as well. 

This includes research into reducing rates of HIV and other STIs. Such studies have also been canceled if they include trans people as an additional risk group. 

Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-news/trump-administration-axes-125m-lgbtq-health-funding-upending-research-rcna199175