The Trump administration has directed the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to focus on researching the “regret” experienced by transgender individuals who undergo medical transition — a move that has sparked outrage among scientists and LGBTQ+ advocates alike. According to Nature, the directive comes at the same time the NIH is pulling funding from nearly every ongoing study related to transgender health.
Several anonymous NIH staffers confirmed to Nature that Matthew Memoli, then acting NIH director, issued an email two weeks ago to leaders across multiple NIH institutes. The message detailed that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which oversees the NIH, had been directed to initiate research into what the administration described as “chemical and surgical mutilation” — inflammatory language referring to gender-affirming care.
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The directive emphasized, “This is very important to the President and the Secretary,” referring to President Donald Trump and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
While the White House has historically pushed for NIH research into specific public health areas, such as cancer or women’s health, staff told Nature that the specificity and tone of this new directive are unprecedented. “They normally push us on various different things, [but] we normally get to chart out the approach,” one employee said.
Critics argue that the focus on so-called transition “regret” is ideologically motivated and unscientific. Harry Barbee, a researcher at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health who studies health among gender and sexual minorities, expressed concern over the new focus.
“It’s really pigeonholing trans people into this medical lens where the only thing important to know about them is that they seek medical transition,” Barbee, who is non-binary and queer, told Nature.
This directive comes amid a broader push by the Trump administration to roll back transgender rights. In January 2025, Trump signed an executive order declaring only two genders — male and female — which, he stated, “cannot be changed.” In February, he banned transgender women from competing in women’s sports, calling the move the end of the “war on women’s sports.”
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Additionally, Trump signed an executive order restricting access to gender-affirming healthcare for people under 19, causing many hospitals to halt treatment for trans youth. The ACLU warned that the order would deny access to medically necessary care such as hormone therapy and puberty blockers, according to CNN.
Many online have condemned the administration’s directive to the NIH, viewing it as a targeted attack on the transgender community masquerading as scientific inquiry.
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