Weekly Advocacy Brief (Week of May 26: Trans Athlete Ban, DEI Rollbacks, and Medicaid Cuts in Virginia This week, President Trump escalated his efforts to quash trans girls from “illegally” competing in sports aligned with their gender identity. His latest move warns states—especially California--that he will cut their federal funding if they permit such individuals to participate and directs local authorities to stop them. LGBTQIA2S+ supporters accuse the administration of potentially violating the 10th Amendment, which protects state powers from federal overreach. Citing its fear of losing federal funding for public schools, the Virginia High School League Executive Committee finalized a ban on female trans athletes May 5, overturning a longtime policy that “had been working” and despite continued opposition by NASW Virginia and human rights groups to the reversal. 

In a 6-5 vote, the Virginia Beach School Board officially ended diversity and inclusion initiatives Tuesday in its district; renamed its primary Policy 5-4 from “Educational Equity” to “Educational Opportunity and Achievement;” and removed verbiage on “diversity, “inclusion,” “cross-cultural,” “equity,” and “implicit bias.” The controversial decision is the third DEI-related vote of the board, and more than 100 people spoke out about the policy change, which has yet to be defined in practice. Schools no longer are sure if they can hold multicultural events, host certain clubs, or even offer special education instruction content. The vote comes in response to a U.S Department of Education letter threatening to withhold federal funds if school districts did not declare that they were not engaging in discriminatory and “illegal DEI practices.” The department already is investigating certain Virginia public school districts, including that of Fairfax County.  

Medicaid pays for one out of every three births in Virginia, so proposed $625 million Medicaid cuts in the budget reconciliation bill under consideration in the U.S. Senate are raising concerns about physical and mental maternal and infant health, particularly related to loss of coverage and raised premium rates. According to the Virginia Mental Health Access Program, “20% of patients report having mental health issues during pregnancy or postpartum, but 75% never receive treatment. Perinatal mental health issues are the leading cause of maternal mortality in America (most frequently accidental overdose and death by suicide). Left untreated, they can lead to dangerous health outcomes for the birthing person and child, and impact developmental outcomes of infants, babies, and toddlers.” In March, Governor Youngkin signed laws to create a pregnancy resource app that promotes state government mental and physical health programs and information for birthing individuals and infants who qualify for Medicaid recipients, as well as reestablished the Task Force on Maternal Health Data and Quality Measures to evaluate maternal health data collection processes that guide state policies directed at improving maternal mental and physical health care, quality, and outcomes.