The Trump administration has revoked a $600,000 federal grant awarded to Southern University Agricultural and Mechanical College after conservative activists falsely claimed it was funding research on “menstrual cycles in transgender men.” The decision comes amid the administration’s broader crackdown on programs acknowledging transgender and nonbinary people.
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The grant, “Farm to Feminine Hygiene: Enhancing the Textiles Lab for Research, Extension and Scientific Instrumentation for Teaching at Southern University,” was awarded in 2024 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture. The project, which was scheduled to run through 2027, focused on developing sustainable menstrual products from natural fibers like regenerative cotton, wool, and industrial hemp. It also sought to educate young women and girls about menstrual health and provide Louisianafarmers with a fiber processing center.
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However, the project’s description contained one sentence acknowledging that “transgender men and people with masculine gender identities, intersex and non-binary persons may also menstruate.” That was enough for the administration to intervene.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced the cancellation on X, formerly Twitter, on Friday, writing, “CANCELED: $600,000 grant to study ‘menstrual cycles in transgender men.’ Keep sending us tips. THANK YOU, @approject! The insanity is ending and the restoration of America is underway.”
CBS News reports that the American Principles Project, a far-right think tank, flagged the study to the Trump administration. “This grant clearly denies biological reality — men don’t menstruate,” the group’s spokesperson Cailey Myers told the network, though she provided no evidence that the grant was actually about transgender men.
A USDA spokesperson told CBS News that the grant’s education component “prioritized women identifying as men who might menstruate.” The department justified the cancellation by saying, “This mission certainly does not align with the priorities and policies of the Trump Administration, which maintains that there are two sexes: male and female.”
However, the project did not prioritize transgender men, nor was it designed to study them. Southern University told CBS News that “the term’ transgender men’ was only used once to state that this project, through the development of safer and healthier [feminine hygiene products], would benefit all biological women.”
The research sought to reduce potential health risks associated with synthetic menstrual products, an issue that has drawn increasing attention from public health experts. CBS News reports that when asked whether the USDA had any evidence that the study focused on transgender men, the agency did not respond.
Dr. Samii Kennedy Benson, who oversaw the project, told CBS News she only learned of the cancellation when reporters contacted her.
The grant’s cancellation comes as Trump’s administration aggressively rolls back policies protecting transgender people. Hours after his inauguration, Trump signed an executive order declaring that the federal government would no longer recognize transgender identities, instructing agencies to remove references to gender identity from policies and programs across the federal government.
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