LGBTQ+ Groups Sue Trump Over Gender, DEI Executive Orders (1)

LGBTQ+ and AIDS nonprofits sued the Trump administration Thursday over a trio of executive orders denying the existence of transgender people and cracking down on diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

The complaint filed in federal court in San Francisco follows a similar case brought Wednesday in Washington, which challenged the constitutionality of the same three executive orders.

The California suit, spearheaded by the San Francisco AIDS foundation and the GLBT Historical Society, said the administration is seeking to punish and defund the nonprofits for acknowledging the existence of transgender people and advocating for their rights. Its orders, therefore, violate the groups’ free speech, equal protection, and due process rights, they said.

“The orders are vague, use undefined terms and make compliance impossible and enforcement arbitrary,” the plaintiffs’ attorney Jose Abrigo of Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund said at a press conference. “Our plaintiffs have no way of knowing which programs, policies or even word might result in penalties.”

President Donald Trump signed the first two orders, “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government” and “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing” on Jan. 20, his first day in office. He signed the third, “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity,” on Jan. 21.

The lawsuit, filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, comes after some of the nonprofits say they have received funding termination or stop work orders from federal agencies in recent weeks. The groups seek a court order blocking the enforcement of the executive orders and declaring them unconstitutional.

The complaint said the San Francisco Community Health Center, one of the plaintiffs, received a termination notice at the beginning of the month for one of its Centers for Disease Control grant awards supporting programming for trans youth in the San Francisco and Oakland. The notice directed the organization to stop all activity promoting “gender ideology” or DEI.

The plaintiffs also include LGBTQ+ and AIDS health centers in New York, Maryland, Arizona, and Wisconsin.

Lambda Legal also represents the plaintiffs in the Washington case.

The civil rights firm led a similar legal campaign during the first Trump administration, suing the president in 2020 in the same district court over an executive order prohibiting contractors and grantees from conducting workplace diversity trainings. Judge Beth Labson Freeman partially granted a preliminary injunction against the executive order. The case was ultimately resolved by the Biden administration.

The new case is assigned to Magistrate Judge Sallie Kim.

The case is San Francisco AIDS Foundation v. Trump, N.D. Cal., No. 3:25-cv-01824, 2/20/25.