A U.S. district court judge has ruled in favor of LGBTQ+ health researchers who sued after the administration began targeting so-called woke programs for elimination and defunding. The lawsuit, GLMA v. NIH, was filed by Lambda Legal on behalf of 16 individual researchers as well as the group, GLMA: Health Professionals Advancing LGBTQ+ Equality. Together, they sued Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert Kennedy, Jr.s National Institutes of Health for both revoking funding from current grants and withholding other applications from review. Related DOJ denies genders of trans servicemembers in court filing filled with childish name-calling Its difficult for me to understand the defenses statement that I am a female, which contradicts all of my government documentation. Last week, Judge Lydia Griggsby, a Joe Biden appointee for the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, granted a preliminary injunction to the plaintiffs, ruling that the administration illegally discriminated against the researchers, violating the Fifth Amendment and Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act. Todays ruling affirms what health professionals have made clear for decades: LGBTQ+ health research is not optional; it is essential, GLMA Executive Director Alex Sheldon said in a statement. Never Miss a Beat Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights. Subscribe to our Newsletter today NIHs attempt to defund this work was never about science; it was an effort to erase transgender people, LGBTQ+ communities, and the researchers committed to our health. By halting these unlawful terminations, the court has protected both the integrity of public health research and the careers of those advancing it.Omar Gonzalez-Pagan, Senior Counsel and Health Care Strategist at Lambda Legal, added that the ruling allows the plaintiffs to continue with their critical research while our case challenging these harmful actions proceeds. We will continue our fight not to allow this administration to return us to the dark days when our federal government ignored the health needs of LGBTQI+ people. A judge in Massachusetts made a similar ruling in a separate case in June. Judge William Young, a Ronald Reagan appointee,called the administrations process for determining grant funding arbitrary and capricious and said it was palpably clear that the government was engaging in racial discrimination and discrimination against Americas LGBTQ community. Ive never seen government racial discrimination like this, Young said. The NIH cuts are a response to an executive order mandating federal agencies end radical and wasteful government DEI programs and preferencing. Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.