PRESS RELEASE: Federal Grants Tied to Discriminatory Intersectionality Framework Reach $257 Million

WASHINGTON — A new report from the Defense of Freedom Institute for Policy Studies (DFI)
and the Legal Insurrection Foundation (LIF) finds that federal funding tied to intersectionality
continues despite the Trump administration’s substantial efforts to eliminate unlawful
discrimination from federal grantmaking. The report examines how intersectional ideology
remains embedded in federally funded research, workforce training, and program
administration and calls for an order from the President to prevent unlawful race- and sex-
based preferences from persisting under this pernicious framework.

The report, “Federal Spending on Intersectionality Continues: The Case for Enforcing
Nondiscrimination Law in Federal Grantmaking,” updates the findings of DFI’s and LIF’s August
report on the use of federal funding to support intersectional ideology. As of September 24,
2026, a USAspending.gov keyword search for “intersectionality” identified approximately $257
million in reported obligations and $156 million in reported outlays, up from approximately
$230 million and $140 million, respectively, in August. Together, the two reports paint an
alarming picture of federal grant programs that, despite the administration’s strong actions to
date against unlawful discrimination, continue catering to an ideology that prioritizes identity
politics over merit and the public good.

The report highlights sixteen awards whose descriptions expressly connect intersectionality to
identity categories, systems of power or oppression, targeted recruitment, institutional
practices, or discrimination.

“These findings show that intersectional ideology continues to permeate the federal
grantmaking apparatus despite the administration’s significant progress in combating unlawful
DEI,” said Bob Eitel, President and Co-Founder of DFI. “Taxpayers should not bankroll an
ideological framework that divides Americans into categories of privilege and oppression, and
federal agencies must ensure that otherwise legitimate research and public programs do not
become vehicles for unlawful identity-based preferences.”

New intersectionality-based awards include:

• $3.3 million to Johns Hopkins University, through June 2030, for an “intersectional mixed methods study” of “structural gendered racism-related policies” across race, ethnicity, and nativity.
• $4.6 million to the University of Miami for a cooperative agreement, running through August 2030, asserting that vulnerable populations must navigate “complex, cumulative intersectionality” that constrains access to cancer prevention.
• $4.3 million to the Illinois Department of Public Health through a CDC award that prioritizes LGBTQI+ youth and other “minoritized” populations and expressly treats the “intersectionality” of demographic groups as part of its prevention strategy.
• $1.9 million to Emory University through an NIH award, running through May 2029, that describes racism as compounding “heteronormative socio-structural oppression,” applies a Black feminist and intersectional adaptation, and seeks racially specific interventions.

The report does not conclude that every award returned by the keyword search funds unlawful
discrimination. Instead, it calls for executive action directing agencies to examine whether
federal funds support discriminatory eligibility, recruitment, selection, scoring, benefits, or
treatment based on race and sex, and, where possible, to suspend assistance for such
programs.

“Under the rubric of intersectionality, discriminatory federal funding continues despite the administration’s best efforts to rid grant programs of diversity, equity, and inclusion,” said William A. Jacobson, Founder and President of the Legal Insurrection Foundation. “Intersectionality is a loophole that needs to be closed.” 

DFI and LIF recommend that President Trump issue a focused executive order directing agencies to update their grantmaking policies and guidance, followed by review of active and pending awards and corrective action where warranted.

To read the report, click here.