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Kentucky one of the states told remove 'gender ideology' from sex ed program or risk cuts

FILE - The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is seen in Washington, April 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)
Jose Luis Magana/AP
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FR159526 AP
FILE - The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is seen in Washington, April 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)

Kentucky is one of 46 states and territories put on notice by the Trump administration to eliminate “gender ideology” from federally-funded sex education programs — or face funding cuts.

The funding threat is coming from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which is warning states that it will pull federal dollars for the Personal Responsibility Education Program or PREP — an initiative launched in 2010 to help prevent teen pregnancy and sexually-transmitted infections.

The notice says states must strike "all references to gender ideology" from the program. In Kentucky's case, failing to do so could result in a loss of #1.4 million in PREP grants.

The language the administration wants removed includes definitions of gender identity and gender expression, along with any instructions guiding students to share their pronouns.

Kentucky law currently mandates that any student, regardless of grade level, not receive any instruction that has, instruction that has a "goal or purpose of students studying or exploring gender identity, gender expression, or sexual orientation."