The federal government is suing an infamous transgender medical activist group and alleging it has deceived the public about the harms of child sex changes to make a profit.
The Federal Trade Commission announced it&#8217;s suing the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) over allegations the group made &#8220;false and unsubstantiated claims&#8221; that made it possible for medical providers to &#8220;sell&#8221; child sex-change interventions to the public, according to a <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2026/06/ftc-states-sue-world-professional-association-transgender-health-over-deceptive-claims-regarding-treatment-children">press release</a>.
“Today, the FTC filed a lawsuit against WPATH alleging that the organization made false and unsubstantiated claims regarding the necessity, effectiveness, and safety of puberty blockers, hormones and sex-change surgeries,” said FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson in a press release. “Children, but especially their parents, must have complete and truthful information when making decisions to purchase medical services.&#8221;
Alaska, Iowa, Nebraska, and Texas are also named plaintiffs in the <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/WPATH-Complaint-Redacted.pdf">lawsuit</a>, which alleges WPATH has &#8220;deceived many consumers&#8221; into believing its highly influential medical guidance, called the Standards of Care version 8 (SOC-8), was based on strong scientific evidence. Health care systems, governments, and health insurers have used the SOC-8 to claim pediatric medical transition services are &#8220;medically necessary,&#8221; and fueled the rapid growth of the child sex-change industry, while WPATH failed to properly disclose the harms of child sex-change interventions.
&#8220;The success of WPATH’s systematic efforts to expand eligibility for transition services to children in order to profit its members is difficult to overstate. Through the SOC and its other efforts, WPATH has created and currently sustains a lucrative industry of pediatric medical transition services,&#8221; states the lawsuit. &#8220;Between 2017 and 2021, the number of children who were diagnosed yearly with distress about their sex traits in the U.S. nearly tripled from around 15,000 in 2017 to about 42,000 in 2021.&#8221;
The lawsuit notes that WPATH’s membership is predominantly made up of healthcare providers who profit from gender-confused children receiving harmful sex-change interventions.
Kurt Miceli, M.D., Chief Medical Officer at Do No Harm, told The Daily Wire he applauds the action taken by Chairman Ferguson.
&#8220;We applaud Chairman Ferguson for taking decisive action against the engine of the transgender industrial machine, WPATH,&#8221; Miceli told The Daily Wire. &#8220;By falsely portraying pediatric gender transition as a lifesaving intervention, this activist organization promoted a narrative that irreversible, life-altering procedures were the only viable option for gender-confused children.&#8221;
WPATH&#8217;s recommendations that children receive irreversible medical interventions are based on low-quality scientific evidence and deceptive practices, according to the lawsuit. WPATH disregarded scientific protocols, was influenced by politics, and had the goal of ensuring child sex-change procedures would be covered by health insurance plans while crafting its medical guidance, according to the lawsuit. Despite these practices, the organization continued to promote itself as the &#8220;de facto authority&#8221; on transgender medicine.
&#8220;WPATH’s representations have further deceived many consumers into believing that its treatment guidelines are based on strong evidence derived from scientific methods,&#8221; the lawsuit states. &#8220;WPATH crafted the SOC with the explicit goal of guaranteeing that insurers would classify medical transition services as medically necessary and therefore covered by their insurance plans.&#8221;
The 123-page lawsuit references several declarations from detransitioners who have been physically harmed by gender medicine and continue to live with the physical and emotional pain caused by gender medicine.
&#8220;WPATH reinforced that narrative by removing nearly all age limits on sex rejecting surgeries for minors, suppressing the systematic evidence reviews it had commissioned, and failing to disclose adverse side effects associated with certain pediatric medical transition interventions,&#8221; Miceli told The Daily Wire. &#8220;Now, WPATH will answer for its deception in court. Let this be a lesson to the remaining medical associations propping up the transgender industry: you will be held accountable.&#8221;
<div>WPATH called the lawsuit “baseless” and said the FTC’s claims had “factual and legal flaws” in a <a href="https://wpath.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/06.17.2026-WPATH-Statement-on-FTC-Statess-Announcement-of-New-Complaint-1.pdf">press release</a>.</div>
<div></div>
<div>&#8220;The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is not a medical provider and has no place interfering with the process of individualized medical decision-making,&#8221; states the press release.</div>

US-JUSTICE-GENDERS

The Lawsuit That Could Blow Up The Child Sex-Change Industry

FTC Sues Trans Org For Deceiving Public On Harms Of Child Sex-Changes To Make Money

detransitioner

Transgender

WPATH

The Daughters of the American Revolution has a generational opportunity to say what a woman is.
The group — open to <a href="https://www.dar.org/discover/become-member/how-join">any woman</a> 18 or older who can prove her bloodline descent from an ancestor who aided in achieving American independence — came under fire last year when it ruled <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/daughters-of-the-american-revolution-chapter-is-fighting-to-keep-men-out">transgender-identifying men</a> could join the group. In response, members of the group&#8217;s Texas chapter have repeatedly introduced resolutions to restrict membership to biological women.
The DAR <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/daughters-of-the-american-revolution-board-rejects-proposal-to-keep-trans-identifying-men-out" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rejected</a> those proposals in the past. But at the group&#8217;s <a href="https://www.dar.org/national-society/about-dar/continental-congress">national meeting</a> on June 26, members will vote to amend the group&#8217;s bylaws to clarify that only natural-born women could join the group.
Laura McDonald, a member of the DAR&#8217;s Texas chapter involved in the effort, is optimistic about the &#8220;historic&#8221; vote.
&#8220;Daughters all across the country have relentlessly pursued all avenues and have succeeded in their demand for this historic vote in hopes of restoring this once stalwart and prestigious institution to its founding principles,&#8221; McDonald told The Daily Wire. &#8220;The DAR should be a beacon during this confusing time in our country.&#8221;
The proposed resolution states that &#8220;the term &#8216;woman&#8217; shall be understood to clearly mean a woman who was born female, and therefore, individuals who were born male shall not be eligible for membership; transgender women shall not be eligible for membership,&#8221; according to a document reviewed by The Daily Wire.
Beth Parlato, senior legal counsel at Independent Women’s Law Center, told The Daily Wire that at the heart of the debate is whether women will continue to be a &#8220;distinct legal category.&#8221;
&#8220;The debate is not merely about membership in a single organization. It is about whether women remain a distinct legal category entitled to sex-based rights, protections, and spaces,&#8221; Parlato stated. &#8220;Women&#8217;s organizations were established to serve women, not anyone who claims a female identity.&#8221;
The Daily Wire&#8217;s Michael Knowles <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/michael-knowles-exposes-transgender-attempt-to-infiltrate-daughters-of-american-revolution" target="_blank" rel="noopener">exposed</a> internal DAR documents showing strong support for transgenderism in a viral September 2024 <a href="https://x.com/michaeljknowles/status/1838267625962405922" target="_blank" rel="noopener">X thread</a>.
McDonald points out that the DAR is uniquely suited to protect women&#8217;s spaces, since birth certificate scrutiny is already an essential part of the application process
&#8220;Even if they present a legitimate state-certified legal birth certificate that says they&#8217;re a woman, if it is suspected that it&#8217;s not an original document that proves, not only their lineage but their sex, we have the right to question that document,&#8221; McDonald said. &#8220;We love Daughters of the American Revolution so much that we&#8217;re willing to go to great lengths to restore it and preserve it.&#8221;
Founded in 1890, decades before women won the right to vote in American elections, the DAR was established by patriotic women who were<a href="https://www.dar.org/discover/about-dar/dar-history" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> frustrated</a> that they were excluded from joining the male-only Sons of the American Revolution, established in 1889. The DAR was created to give women the same <a href="https://www.dar.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">opportunity</a> as men to &#8220;promote Historic Preservation, Education, and Patriotism&#8221; in the United States. Throughout its more than 130-year history, DAR has welcomed over a million members, <a href="https://www.dar.org/national-society/about-dar/did-you-know" target="_blank" rel="noopener">supported</a> American efforts in three major wars, and continues to <a href="https://www.dar.org/outreach/patriotism/military-support-service-veterans" target="_blank" rel="noopener">serve</a> active-duty military members and veterans, as described on its website.
&#8220;When female-only groups abandon biological reality and redefine woman to include men, they contribute to the erosion of women&#8217;s rights everywhere, from athletics and scholarships to shelters, prisons, and private associations,&#8221; Parlato told The Daily Wire. &#8220;Preserving female-only spaces is essential to protecting women’s equality under the law.”
The Daughters of the American Revolution did not respond to The Daily Wire&#8217;s requests for comment.

Untitled design – 2026-06-16T123306.554

The Daughters Of The American Revolution Could Declare Independence From Woke

Daughters of the American Revolution

gender ideology

This is part four of a Daily Wire series exposing the Biden administration’s previously unreported efforts to enact radical anti-family policies in the name of protecting transgender-identifying children. In <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/read-it-the-biden-administrations-clandestine-5-year-plan-to-trans-child-welfare?author=Megan+Brock&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=READ+IT%3A+The+Biden+Administration%E2%80%99s+Clandestine+5-Year+Plan+To+Trans+Child+Welfare" target="_blank" rel="noopener">part three</a>, we saw how Biden officials prepared for a second term by laying the groundwork to enshrine transgenderism in federal law. Today, we meet the radical activists who would have led this effort.
***
When the Biden administration needed people to implement its radical transgender policies, there was an obvious place to look.
The University of Connecticut&#8217;s National Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Expression (SOGIE) Center was named a subcontractor of the $20 million<a href="https://www.usaspending.gov/award/CONT_AWD_75ACF124F80019_7590_GS10F0064W_4730" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> grant</a> from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to create Biden&#8217;s own Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Expression Institute.
Names were not the only thing the two SOGIE Institutes would have in common. The UConn group was at the forefront of pushing radical gender ideology on child welfare systems across the country, and the activists and researchers behind the group would have assisted the HHS&#8217;s Children&#8217;s Bureau in &#8220;transforming&#8221; child welfare systems with gender ideology and implementing Biden&#8217;s April 2024 rule requiring foster care parents to “affirm” a child’s “gender identity.”
The primary contractor of the SOGIE Institute grant, BLH Technologies Inc., was described as UConn&#8217;s &#8220;small business partner&#8221; in an email written by Angela Weeks, a University of Connecticut employee tasked with administering the SOGIE grant.
“I have exciting news! BLH Technologies Inc, our small business partner in the application for the Child Welfare SOGIE Institute, received notification that we won the award!” wrote Weeks. “This [Technical Assistance] center will provide guidance for child welfare agencies across the country on SOGI data collection, program implementation, and the implementation of the &#8216;Designated Placements Rule.'&#8221;
Weeks and Marlene Matarese, who held leadership roles at Biden&#8217;s SOGIE Institute, had spent years working together to develop gender-affirming child welfare programs through an initiative called the National Quality Improvement Center on Tailored Services, Placement Stability, and Permanency for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning, and Two-Spirit Children and Youth (<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210418181910/https://qiclgbtq2s.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">QIC-LGBTQ2S</a>) in Foster Care. This group was funded by a $10 million federal grant awarded to the University of Maryland School of Social Work in late 2016. The initiative developed &#8220;affirming&#8221; programs that re-educated parents to support a child&#8217;s gender transition, helped LGBTQ+ identifying kids find &#8220;<a href="https://www.kinnect.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/CAFF-Intervention-Practice-Manual-Final-9.6.23.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">chosen affirming families,</a>&#8221; and <a href="https://sogiecenter.org/child-welfare-resources-2/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">trained</a> social workers to<a href="https://express.adobe.com/page/yjbkzmPugwkgc/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> collect information</a> about the sexuality of children.
Weeks, Matarese, and the research group moved from the University of Maryland in late 2022 to become part of UConn&#8217;s School of Social Work<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20250127011132/https:/innovations.socialwork.uconn.edu/team/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> Innovations Institute</a>.<a href="https://socialwork.uconn.edu/person/marlene-matarese/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> Matarese</a> is currently an associate research professor at UConn, while<a href="https://directory.uconn.edu/?phonebook_search=angela%20weeks" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> Weeks</a> is an administrative program manager, and both used UConn email addresses to perform SOGIE Institute tasks. Many of the documents cited in this series were obtained through public record requests submitted to the university.
UConn was<a href="https://www.usaspending.gov/award/CONT_AWD_75ACF123P00007_7590_-NONE-_-NONE-/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> awarded</a> a $33,700 grant in April 2023 to create a series of training modules for the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) staff to build its capacity to &#8220;serve and provide support to LGBTQ2SI+ children, families, parents, and others,&#8221; as described in the grant.
Matarese and Weeks worked with ACF officials to complete the training series in the summer of 2024, records show. One email shows Weeks explaining the concept of &#8220;sex assigned at birth&#8221; to an ACF staff member.
&#8220;My questions is are people also assigning gender at birth? As do birth certificates have &#8216;gender&#8217; instead of sex? I defer to UCONN on this point,&#8221; asked the staff member.
“We use both, depending on the context,&#8221; Weeks responded. &#8220;Sex assigned at birth is when folks add female/male to birth certificates. When people say, &#8216;it’s a girl&#8217; or &#8216;it’s a boy,&#8217; they are assigning gender.”
<a href="https://sogiecenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/SOGIE-Center-Newsletter-February-2023.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">UConn</a> was also home to the<a href="https://sogiecenter.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> National SOGIE Center</a>, a collaborative of transgender activist groups <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20240704121902/https://sogiecenter.org/about/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">led</a> by Weeks and Matarese that showcased many of the interventions <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20230331085312/https://qiclgbtq2s.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">developed</a> by QIC-LGBTQ2S. UConn described the National SOGIE Center as “A collaborative, led by Innovations Institute with Angela Weeks as Project Director and Marlene Matarese as Principal Investigator, of national leading social justice organizations that work to promote the well-being of LGBTQ+ youth and their families,&#8221; on its<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20250123170127/https://innovations.socialwork.uconn.edu/expertise/lgbtq/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> website,</a> which has since been deactivated but is available to read on the Internet Archive.
The Innovations Institute removed links to many LGBTQ+ affirming resources and the National SOGIE Center from its website after President Trump took office, and it&#8217;s unclear if UCONN is still leading the group. The Daily Wire contacted UConn several times and asked for clarification about its current involvement but did not receive a response.
The National SOGIE Center continues to produce LGBTQ+ affirming resources. It published a “<a href="https://coming-out-guide.sogiecenter.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Coming Out With Care</a>” guidebook in the fall of 2025 that helps young people navigate sharing their LGBTQ+ identity. The guide warns you “may lose family members” who have been exposed to “misinformation” when sharing your LGBTQ+ identity.
&#8220;Try to remind yourself that your parents and other family members may have been exposed to a lot of misinformation about sexual orientation and gender identity,&#8221; states the guide. &#8220;You may lose family members — this could be for a few days, weeks, months, or even years.&#8221;
The guide also recommends that youth research local consent laws to discover if they can make &#8220;medical decisions&#8217; without parental consent.
&#8220;Research if there is an age of consent law that lets youth (in some states, this may be between ages 12 to 18) make certain medical decisions without parental consent,&#8221; the guide says.
A recently uploaded<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tE319wn9UBk" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> video</a> on the National SOGIE Center YouTube channel stressed the importance of parents supporting their child&#8217;s transgender identity. The video pushes the<a href="https://www.city-journal.org/article/trevor-project-suicide-prevention-lgbt-youth-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> debunked</a> narrative that affirming a child&#8217;s transgender identity protects them from harm.
In 2025, the Human Rights Campaign, a longtime partner of the National SOGIE Center, announced it was transitioning its<a href="https://www.thehrcfoundation.org/professional-resources/all-children-all-families-lgbtq-resources-for-youth-serving-professionals" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> child welfare program</a> to the National SOGIE Center in its<a href="https://us14.campaign-archive.com/?u=3ad45d2c9202aaece3bbece7e&amp;id=4135f00958" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> May 2025 Newsletter.</a>
&#8220;We are excited to share an important update: after May 30, 2025, the management of the All Children &#8211; All Families (ACAF) program is transitioning from the Human Rights Campaign Foundation to<a href="https://sogiecenter.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> The National SOGIE Center</a>!&#8221; stated the newsletter. &#8220;This transition marks a new chapter in the program’s evolution, one grounded in continuity, deep expertise, and our shared commitment to advancing equity and inclusion for LGBTQ+ children, youth, and families.&#8221;
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/she-wouldnt-call-her-daughter-trans-the-state-took-custody?topStoryPosition=undefined&amp;author=Megan+Brock&amp;category=Investigation&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Top+Stories&amp;rowType=Top+Stories&amp;title=She+Wouldn%E2%80%99t+Call+Her+Daughter+%E2%80%98Trans.%E2%80%99+The+State+Took+Custody." target="_blank" rel="noopener">PART ONE: SHE WOULDN’T CALL HER DAUGHTER ‘TRANS.’ THE STATE TOOK CUSTODY.</a>
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/inside-the-biden-admins-scramble-to-find-data-to-support-its-pro-trans-foster-care-reform?author=Megan+Brock&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=The+Evidence+Problem+At+The+Heart+Of+Biden%E2%80%99s+Trans+Rule" target="_blank" rel="noopener">PART TWO: THE EVIDENCE PROBLEM AT THE HEART OF BIDEN’S TRANS RULE</a>
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/read-it-the-biden-administrations-clandestine-5-year-plan-to-trans-child-welfare?author=Megan+Brock&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=READ+IT%3A+The+Biden+Administration%E2%80%99s+Clandestine+5-Year+Plan+To+Trans+Child+Welfare" target="_blank" rel="noopener">PART THREE: THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION&#8217;S CLANDESTINE 5-YEAR PLAN TO TRANS CHILD WELFARE</a>

Joe Biden Campaigns In Western Pennsylvania One Day Before Election

The Shocking Advice A Biden-Backed Trans Group Gave Kids

Biden

Child Welfare

This is part three of a Daily Wire series exposing the Biden administration’s previously unreported efforts to enact radical anti-family policies in the name of protecting transgender-identifying children. In <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/inside-the-biden-admins-scramble-to-find-data-to-support-its-pro-trans-foster-care-reform">part two,</a> we saw how Biden officials pushed a policy even radical LGBT activists told them to drop.
Today, we see that the rule was just the tip of the iceberg. As Biden receded from view and Kamala Harris launched her campaign, Biden officials were laying the groundwork for what they would do if they kept the White House. The plan would have fundamentally changed child welfare across the country — enshrining transgenderism in federal law without a single vote.
***
Shortly before the 2024 presidential election, Donald Trump&#8217;s campaign dropped a game changing ad.
“Kamala is for they/them,&#8221; the ad warned viewers. &#8220;President Trump is for you.&#8221;
It has since become clear that Trump&#8217;s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/how-trump-learned-to-embrace-the-transgender-culture-wars">embrace of the transgender issue</a> helped fuel his return to the White House. But what if Vice President Kamala Harris had eked out a victory? Would her administration have continued President Joe Biden&#8217;s embrace of radical gender ideology? Would she have walked it back? Or would Harris have taken things even further?
A 78-page plan reviewed by The Daily Wire shows how the Biden administration was planning to make affirming transgenderism the national standard within child welfare services without having to pass a single law. The crux of that plan was the creation of the Child Welfare Sexual Orientation Gender Identity and Expression Institute (SOGIE). Funded by a $20 million <a href="https://www.usaspending.gov/award/CONT_AWD_75ACF124F80019_7590_GS10F0064W_4730" target="_blank" rel="noopener">grant</a> from the Department of Health and Human Services, <a href="https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/USACFCWIG/bulletins/3bb7416">SOGIE</a> was on track to employ a 40-person team to push transgenderism on child welfare agencies across the country.
&#8220;This is a comprehensive, detailed strategy to turn child welfare systems in all 50 states into training camps and havens for radical gender ideology,&#8221; Laura Hanford, the senior policy analyst at the Richard and Helen DeVos Center for Human Flourishing, told The Daily Wire. &#8220;Not a word about the major risks of sex-rejecting procedures, or about the comorbidities for gender confusion and its high correlation with sexual abuse, especially in such a vulnerable population.&#8221;
Even the people behind the plan acknowledged its radical nature.
Angela Weeks, a University of Connecticut employee tasked with administering the SOGIE grant, wrote to colleagues in August 2024 that “we wrote a proposal that was innovative, so much so that some other reviewers thought we should tone it down.&#8221;
But &#8220;we chose to go big,&#8221; Weeks said, adding that it was &#8220;thrilling to see&#8221; the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), an <a href="https://acf.gov/about">agency</a> within HHS, &#8220;wanted a contractor who would lead this work in a way that can create real change.”
The Biden administration first mentioned the SOGIE Institute in <a href="https://sam.gov/opp/076cf3af202e48eeac9766ab3a7e02b5/view#history" target="_blank" rel="noopener">January 2023,</a> when HHS announced it was looking for a contractor to help its <a href="https://acf.gov/cb" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Children’s Bureau</a> address the &#8220;unique needs of transgender and gender diverse individuals&#8221; in child welfare systems. This was pursuant to Biden&#8217;s <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2022/06/21/2022-13391/advancing-equality-for-lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender-queer-and-intersex-individuals" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Executive Order 14075,</a> which mandated the federal government “combat unlawful discrimination” and “address the significant disparities that LGBTQI+ youth face in the foster care system.”
The SOGIE Institute cited this order in its project work plan, stating it offered an “unprecedented opportunity” to make child welfare services “more responsive” to the “unique needs of [LGBTQIA2S+] youth and their families.&#8221; It called President Biden&#8217;s LGBTQ+ affirming foster care<a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/04/30/2024-08982/designated-placement-requirements-under-titles-iv-e-and-iv-b-for-lgbtqi-children" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> rule</a> an “inflection point,” charging child welfare agencies to take radical action.
In the fall of 2024, the SOGIE Institute set about transforming local and state child welfare agencies across the nation.
The draft work plan outlines five years worth of initiatives, including efforts to collect data about the sexual orientation and gender identity of children in foster care, and trainings to help child welfare workers “maximize SOGIE knowledge and practice competencies.”
The institute also had plans to handpick child welfare workers from state and local agencies to participate in a “SOGIE Champions&#8221; program, where they would participate in a &#8220;robust training and coaching program that teaches the skills and knowledge necessary to implement evidence informed LGBTQIA2S+ best practices.&#8221;
<div id="attachment_1107955" style="width: 732px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1107955" class="wp-image-1107955 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-03-at-10.35.28-AM-722x576.png" alt="" width="722" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-03-at-10.35.28-AM-722x576.png 722w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-03-at-10.35.28-AM-300x239.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-03-at-10.35.28-AM-768x613.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-03-at-10.35.28-AM.png 1139w" sizes=" (max-width: 722px) 100vw, 722px" />Screenshot from the SOGIE Institute project work plan.</div>
Biden officials were particularly interested in recruiting &#8220;champions&#8221; from child welfare systems in conservative states that opposed President Biden’s LGBTQ+ affirming foster care<a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/04/30/2024-08982/designated-placement-requirements-under-titles-iv-e-and-iv-b-for-lgbtqi-children" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> rule</a>, records show. Liliana Chakrabarti, a child welfare program specialist at the Children’s Bureau, told SOGIE leaders that her staff had created a list of potential allies in 20 states whose attorneys general had opposed the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/states-press-hhs-over-illegal-rule-that-could-force-foster-care-providers-to-facilitate-trans-procedures" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rule</a>, an August 2024 email shows.
The SOGIE Institute planned to welcome its first group of “SOGIE Champions” in January 2025. Liliana Chakrabarti did not respond to The Daily Wire&#8217;s request for comment.
The institute also planned to recruit and train “Lived Experience Consultants” who had been supported by child welfare systems and identified as &#8220;LGBTQIA2S+ or are parents or caregivers of LGBTQIA2S+ young people.” These individuals would consult with local child welfare agencies and help them embrace gender affirming policies.
The SOGIE Institute only operated for six months. But during that time, the group <a href="https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/USACFCWIG/bulletins/3c5fab1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hosted</a> <a href="https://www.payab.pitt.edu/files/10TipsFosterSafteyLGBTQIA2S.pdf">webinars</a> on “Supporting LGBTQIA2S+ Young People and their Families Receiving Child Welfare Services&#8221; and “Ten Tips on Fostering Safety for LGBTQIA2S+ Youth in Foster Care.&#8221;
The “tips” included using non-gendered language, hanging pride flags in child welfare offices, and introducing yourself using chosen pronouns.
The group published a <a href="https://www.payab.pitt.edu/files/CWSOGIEInstituteGlossary.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">glossary of terms</a> that defined each letter of the LGBTQIA2S+ acronym, saying it would be used “for all the work throughout the Administration of Children and Families&#8221; and also provided definitions of terms such as “queer,” “transgender,” and “transition.”
&#8220;Child welfare is already widely tainted by gender ideology,&#8221; Hanford told The Daily Wire. &#8220;One can only imagine how much more thoroughly this 20-million-dollar plan would have rotted child protective systems, and how many more families would have been destroyed, had President Trump not won the election and halted the project.&#8221;
<div id="attachment_1107951" style="width: 857px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1107951" class="wp-image-1107951 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-03-at-10.39.46-AM-847x576.png" alt="" width="847" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-03-at-10.39.46-AM-847x576.png 847w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-03-at-10.39.46-AM-300x204.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-03-at-10.39.46-AM-768x522.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-03-at-10.39.46-AM-1536x1045.png 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-03-at-10.39.46-AM.png 1597w" sizes=" (max-width: 847px) 100vw, 847px" />Screenshot from the SOGIE Institute project work plan.</div>
The work plan showed one of the long-term goals of the SOGIE Institute was to address the problem of “over-representation of LGBTQIA2S+ in foster care,&#8221; but Chakrabarti recommended that the SOGIE Institute focus on a more “realistic” goal.
“I think a more realistic long term goal would be: increased satisfaction of services by LGBTQIA2S+ youth in care,” wrote Chakrabarti.
Transgender activists believe not supporting a child&#8217;s transgender identity is a form of harm and abuse. Parents across the country, including in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/murdered-by-gender-ideology-mother-whose-daughter-committed-suicide-blasts-child-protective-services" target="_blank" rel="noopener">California</a>, <a href="https://becketfund.org/case/m-c-and-j-c-v-indiana-department-of-child-services/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Indiana</a>, and <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2024/10/17/exclusive-gender-confused-kids-taken-non-affirming-parents-one-family-fight-son-back/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Maryland</a>, have had their children taken away by child welfare services for affirming their child’s sex. In the first part of this series, The Daily Wire reported on an Oregon mom who lost custody because she would not affirm her daughter&#8217;s transgender identity.
Erin Friday, a lawyer and president of Our Duty-USA, told The Daily Wire that gender-affirming child welfare systems are unnecessarily increasing the number of kids in foster care.
&#8220;The child welfare system was designed as a safety net for abused children, with family reunification as its primary goal,&#8221; Friday said. &#8220;It has since morphed into a system that wants to add to the foster care ledger.&#8221;
&#8220;The primary beneficiaries are LGBTQ-affiliated nonprofits that can then seek additional taxpayer funding,&#8221; Friday added. &#8220;This scheme simultaneously uses the increased numbers to justify the false notion that parents are abandoning their gender dysphoric children.&#8221;
Under President Trump, HHS has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-admin-sends-new-guidance-to-all-50-states-on-trans-kid-disputes?author=Megan+Brock&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=19&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Trump+Admin+Sends+New+Guidance+To+All+50+States+On+Trans+Kid+Disputes" target="_blank" rel="noopener">alerted</a> all 50 states that affirming “biological reality” does not constitute child abuse or neglect under federal law.
“Removing a child from their home must be based on objective evidence or imminent risk of serious harm. So a state’s decision to break up a family cannot be based solely on a parent’s objection to radical gender ideology or irreversible sex rejecting medical interventions,” said Alex Adams, the assistant secretary for the ACF, in a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWhuT4EHHdQ&amp;t=2s" target="_blank" rel="noopener">video</a> published by HHS.
Despite this recommendation, few states have clarified their legal code to ensure that affirming a child’s sex is not labeled as a form of child abuse. Many American parents who won’t affirm the transgender identity of their children are at risk of losing custody of their kids to the state.
President Trump canceled the $20 million SOGIE Institute contract in January 2025 with Executive Order <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/ending-radical-and-wasteful-government-dei-programs-and-preferencing/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">14151</a>, which eliminated diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, according to the <a href="https://www.usaspending.gov/award/CONT_AWD_75ACF124F80019_7590_GS10F0064W_4730" target="_blank" rel="noopener">grant</a> listing. But despite the loss of funding, members of the group have continued to push their views.
Before the creation of Biden&#8217;s SOGIE Institute, Weeks was the director of a collaborative of transgender activists organizations that provides guidance and training to child welfare agencies implementing gender affirming policies called the <a href="https://sogiecenter.org/">National SOGIE Center</a>. Partners of the collaborative include the Human Rights Campaign and Lambda Legal. The National SOGIE Center has continued to produce LGBTQ+ resources and published a &#8220;<a href="https://coming-out-guide.sogiecenter.org/">Coming Out With Care</a>&#8221; guidebook in the fall of 2025.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/she-wouldnt-call-her-daughter-trans-the-state-took-custody?topStoryPosition=undefined&amp;author=Megan+Brock&amp;category=Investigation&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Top+Stories&amp;rowType=Top+Stories&amp;title=She+Wouldn%E2%80%99t+Call+Her+Daughter+%E2%80%98Trans.%E2%80%99+The+State+Took+Custody." target="_blank" rel="noopener">PART ONE: SHE WOULDN’T CALL HER DAUGHTER ‘TRANS.’ THE STATE TOOK CUSTODY.</a>
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/inside-the-biden-admins-scramble-to-find-data-to-support-its-pro-trans-foster-care-reform?author=Megan+Brock&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=The+Evidence+Problem+At+The+Heart+Of+Biden%E2%80%99s+Trans+Rule">PART TWO: THE EVIDENCE PROBLEM AT THE HEART OF BIDEN&#8217;S TRANS RULE</a>

Untitled design – 2026-06-03T121716.946

READ IT: The Biden Administration’s Clandestine 5-Year Plan To Trans Child Welfare

Special Reporting

This is part two of a Daily Wire series exposing the Biden administration&#8217;s previously unreported efforts to enact radical anti-family policies in the name of protecting transgender-identifying children. Part one told <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/she-wouldnt-call-her-daughter-trans-the-state-took-custody?topStoryPosition=undefined&amp;author=Megan+Brock&amp;category=Investigation&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Top+Stories&amp;rowType=Top+Stories&amp;title=She+Wouldn%E2%80%99t+Call+Her+Daughter+%E2%80%98Trans.%E2%80%99+The+State+Took+Custody.">the story of Nicole</a>, a mother whose refusal to indulge her daughter&#8217;s gender delusions led the state of Oregon to take custody of the child.
Today, we peer behind the curtain of the Biden administration&#8217;s efforts to replicate Oregon&#8217;s system on a national level. In the waning days of the administration, Biden health officials pushed a rule they said would stop an epidemic of &#8220;family rejection&#8221; straining the foster care system. There was just one problem: even radical LGBT activists told the Biden team it had its facts wrong. That didn&#8217;t stop them.
***
In April 2024, the Biden administration issued a rule pressing state child welfare agencies to stock their systems with foster homes that would “affirm” a child&#8217;s “gender identity,” insisting it was the best way to protect children&#8217;s mental health.
Less than a month prior, Biden officials were scrambling to find data to support their claim.
“I’m on a tight deadline and need to provide data on why LGBTQI+ children and youth are overrepresented in child welfare,” Julie Kruse, the Biden administration&#8217;s Senior Advisor for LGBTQI+ Initiatives at the Administration for Children and Families, wrote in an email to transgender activists unearthed by The Daily Wire.
“There are so many great surveys on disproportionality of negative experiences, WHILE these youth are in care but less quantitative data I’ve been able to find on family rejection and other factors that led a disproportionate number of LGBTQI+ youth to be in foster care in the first case.”
Kruse and others in the administration pushed the <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/04/30/2024-08982/designated-placement-requirements-under-titles-iv-e-and-iv-b-for-lgbtqi-children" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rule</a> to fix what they believed was a massive problem with foster care: a dangerously high number of teens were entering the system because their parents did not accept their gender or sexual identity. The rule&#8217;s rationale pointed to “family rejection” — including refusing to use a child&#8217;s chosen pronouns or not letting a child “learn about their LGBTQ identity” — as harmful, and directed agencies to make placements that support a child&#8217;s gender identity.
Bianca Wilson, an LGBT scholar, warned Kruse that this claim wasn&#8217;t supported by data.
“I encourage you to avoid the go-to explanation of ‘family rejection’ that is often adopted by queer organizations that do so in the absence of data to support it,” <a href="https://luskin.ucla.edu/person/bianca-d-m-wilson" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wilson</a> wrote to Kruse in an August 28, 2023, email.
“Most of the queerkids in care (based on what we saw In LA and what NYC found) entered care before they were teens,&#8221; wrote Wilson, the lead investigator of the first <a href="https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/publications/sgm-youth-la-foster-care/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">study</a> to <a href="https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/Surveying-LGBTQ-Youth-Foster-Care-Nov-2016.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">estimate</a> the number of LGBT youth in foster care. &#8220;This means they likely entered care before [Sexual and Gender Minority] expression and identities were especially salient.&#8221;
Kruse got somewhat luckier with Angela Weeks and Marlene Matarese.
The pair had helped lead the cumbersomely named National Quality Improvement Center on Tailored Services, Placement Stability, and Permanency for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning, and Two-Spirit Children and Youth in Foster Care.
The <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190823151605/https://qiclgbtq2s.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">QIC-LGBTQ2S</a> was launched in 2017 and worked with child welfare agencies in Michigan, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Ohio to develop and <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190823160412/http://www.qiclgbtq2s.org/lis/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">implement</a> gender affirming child welfare interventions in partnership with the Children’s Bureau, with the goal of transforming child welfare systems to become LGBTQ+ affirming. The programs developed by the QIC-LGBTQ2S group were later <a href="https://sogiecenter.org/programs/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">housed</a> and made accessible by the <a href="https://sogiecenter.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National SOGIE Center</a>, a collaborative of transgender activist groups working to influence child welfare systems.
Weeks sent Kruse a federally funded research <a href="https://sogiecenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Cuyahoga-Youth-Count-2023.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">survey</a> conducted through the initiative she and Matarese led, which &#8220;found that 32% of young people (ages 12-21) identified as LGBTQ+.&#8221; But Weeks made clear that &#8220;there is less administrative data to help us understand the cause of this prevalence,&#8221; and that the extant data did not definitively show the reasons &#8220;LGBTQI+ youth&#8221; entered the foster care system.
Bianca Wilson, the researcher who discouraged Kruse from employing &#8220;the go-to explanation of ‘family rejection,'&#8221; specifically named the Cuyahoga study as insufficient to demonstrate Kruse&#8217;s point in her message, insisting that &#8220;no one has yet done the research needed to examine this question adequately.&#8221;
Wilson&#8217;s warnings did not dissuade Kruse. The Cuyahoga County report is the first study cited in the &#8220;family rejection&#8221; rule the Biden administration submitted to the Federal Register.
&#8220;The rule was premised on the incorrect notion that not affirming and supporting a child’s self-proclaimed sexual identity or identity that rejects his or her sex is unsafe, harassment, mistreatment, and abuse,&#8221; Ethics and Public Policy Center fellow Rachel Morrison told The Daily Wire. &#8220;This radical premise, if adopted, would not be contained to foster care; it would have far-reaching implications for adoption, custody disputes, child care, education, and athletics.&#8221;
“The Biden rule created special rules for children in foster care who identify as ‘LGBTQI+’ based on misrepresentations of research and data, outdated studies, and biased surveys produced by ideologically-driven activist organizations,&#8221; she added.
President Joe Biden continued pushing the idea that “family rejection” was driving kids into child welfare systems during his presidency. Kruse and Weeks worked together to plan an October 2024 “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/inside-the-biden-administrations-speed-dating-event-for-trans-activists-and-megadonors?author=Megan+Brock&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=15&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Biden+Admin+Hosted+%E2%80%98Speed+Dating%E2%80%99+Event+For+Trans+Activists+With+One+Rule" target="_blank" rel="noopener">speed dating</a>” event first exposed by The Daily Wire, which brought together transgender activists, government officials, and major progressive philanthropists to promote and expand the impact of “family acceptance” child welfare programs.
The Biden foster care rule was <a href="https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/news/releases/attorney-general-ken-paxton-secures-final-victory-over-biden-era-rule-forcing-radical-gender" target="_blank" rel="noopener">vacated</a> by a federal judge in June 2025. The Trump administration <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-admin-squashes-controversial-biden-rule-forcing-foster-homes-affirm-childrens-lgbtq-status" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> in March 2026 that it was taking action to rescind the rule.
<div>Wilson stood by her comment to Kruse on family rejection and told The Daily Wire that data indicate LGBTQ+ youth are overrepresented in foster care, but there is no systematic data to explain why. She attributed this to a lack of research funding and the government&#8217;s blocking efforts to collect SOGIE data.</div>
&#8220;Yet, if you look at some research studies, it is also clear that family rejection because of prejudice against a child or youth’s SOGIE is sometimes a major issue leading to placement in foster care. So, family rejection is sometimes a major issue, but we do not have clear data to explain whether it is central to creating LGBTQ youth disproportionality,&#8221; Wilson told The Daily Wire.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/she-wouldnt-call-her-daughter-trans-the-state-took-custody?topStoryPosition=undefined&amp;author=Megan+Brock&amp;category=Investigation&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Top+Stories&amp;rowType=Top+Stories&amp;title=She+Wouldn%E2%80%99t+Call+Her+Daughter+%E2%80%98Trans.%E2%80%99+The+State+Took+Custody.">READ PART ONE: SHE WOULDN&#8217;T CALL HER DAUGHTER &#8216;TRANS.&#8217; THE STATE TOOK CUSTODY.</a>

President Biden Hosts Pride Celebration At The White House

The Evidence Problem At The Heart Of Biden’s Trans Rule

Biden Administration

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When a transgender-identifying man flashed his prosthetic breasts on the White House lawn during the Biden administration&#8217;s penultimate Pride Month celebration, many thought we had seen the high water mark of the radical gender ideology that had captured the Democrat Party.
But internal documents unearthed by The Daily Wire reveal the shocking truth. In its waning days, the Biden administration was working behind the scenes to rip children from the homes of loving parents who refused to affirm a child&#8217;s transgender identity. Today, as a different president marks the first of June without any rainbow regalia, we&#8217;re proud to bring you the first in a four-part series exposing the Biden administration&#8217;s radical anti-family plot.
We begin with the story of Nicole, a loving mother whose refusal to indulge her daughter&#8217;s gender delusions put her at odds with her local school district, and later, the entire state of Oregon. The system that empowered the state to rip Nicole&#8217;s daughter from her home is precisely the kind of system the Biden administration was developing — and likely would have implemented had Vice President Kamala Harris defeated President Donald Trump.
***
Nicole was shocked when the police turned up at her front door to take her 15-year-old daughter away.
In July 2024, the Oregon Department of Human Services took the teen — called Jane Doe in filings to protect her identity — into protective custody as they investigated whether Nicole was causing Jane a “mental injury,&#8221; a form of child abuse under Oregon <a href="https://www.childwelfare.gov/resources/definitions-child-abuse-and-neglect-oregon/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">state law.</a>
The issue at hand? Nicole would not &#8220;affirm&#8221; Jane&#8217;s &#8220;gender identity.&#8221;
&#8220;I asked, &#8216;What if I don&#8217;t let her go&#8217;?&#8221; Nicole told The Daily Wire. &#8220;Then you can be arrested,&#8221; a police officer told her.
Nicole says Jane had identified as transgender for several years — but she and her husband are Christians, who acknowledge the biological reality that you can&#8217;t change your sex. After performing its investigation, Oregon DHS sent Nicole a notice in September 2024 saying it had found the claim that she caused her daughter a &#8220;mental injury&#8221; for not affirming her transgender identity was “founded.”
&#8220;We believe you, Nicole REDACTED, are responsible for the Mental Injury of Jane Doe,&#8221; the document from Oregon DHS reads. &#8220;Your actions and statements towards Jane Doe have caused significant mental injury. The severe harm perpetrated showed a serious disregard for Jane Doe&#8217;s social and emotional well-being. Your adverse reactions to Jane Doe expressing their gender identity have caused serious harm to Jane Doe&#8217;s psychological functioning.&#8221;
Oregon defines “<a href="https://oregon.public.law/rules/oar_413-015-0115" target="_blank" rel="noopener">emotional abuse</a>” as “any mental injury to a child that shall include only observable and substantial impairment of the child&#8217;s mental or psychological ability to function caused by cruelty to the child.&#8221;
Nicole asked Oregon DHS to review and reconsider her case. Upon review, Oregon DHS again said Nicole&#8217;s refusal to &#8220;support&#8221; Jane&#8217;s gender identity had caused her a “mental injury.”
“The decision was based on the following: You refuse to support JANE DOE’s gender identity and instead provided hours-long lectures that have led to JANE DOE experiencing panic attacks and suicidal ideation. Your actions and behaviors have caused a severe negative impact on JANE DOE’s wellbeing,” states a document reviewed by The Daily Wire.
The Daily Wire reached out to Oregon DHS, asking if it could confirm whether the state of Oregon views not affirming a child&#8217;s gender identity as emotional abuse that causes mental injury to a child. Oregon DHS did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Nicole told The Daily Wire that Jane now lives with her gender-affirming father.
&#8220;Because I tell them she&#8217;s a girl and I won&#8217;t say that she&#8217;s a boy whatsoever, they won&#8217;t let me have a relationship with my daughter,&#8221; Nicole told The Daily Wire. &#8220;They took all of my parenting rights away.&#8221;
&#8220;Nicole&#8217;s story is not unusual,&#8221; parents&#8217; rights advocate Erin Friday says. &#8220;Gender confused kids are being groomed by adults to use the child welfare apparatus to escape from the only parent who truly has the child’s best interest in mind. The system that was designed to safeguard kids has morphed into a lethal weapon against loving parents.&#8221;
Nicole is now going to court to clear the names of her and her husband, who was also named as having “founded” charges of emotional abuse. Her case is set to go before a judge in September 2026.
“I gave birth to a beautiful, loving little girl, and that she will always and forever, no matter what she does to her body, will be a girl,” Nicole told The Daily Wire.
“Now my husband and I are in a battle with the State to clear our names because we didn&#8217;t lie to our daughter and tell her that she is a boy. This has cost us thousands [of dollars] and more heartache that I can&#8217;t begin to place into words, and with no end in sight.”
<h3>Oregon’s Radical Child Welfare Policies</h3>
Oregon is known for its radical embrace of gender ideology. It adopted a groundbreaking <a href="https://oregon.public.law/rules/oar_413-200-0308" target="_blank" rel="noopener">policy</a> in 2018 requiring child foster care parents and adoptive families to &#8220;respect, accept, and support&#8221; a child&#8217;s gender identity. &#8220;Gender identity&#8221; is a term used by transgender activists to describe a person’s feelings about their sex. Activists view not “affirming” a child’s gender identity as a form of abuse and neglect.
This rule shares similarities with a now rescinded Biden-era federal <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/04/30/2024-08982/designated-placement-requirements-under-titles-iv-e-and-iv-b-for-lgbtqi-children#footnote-35-p34845" target="_blank" rel="noopener">regulation</a> that required all foster care families to provide transgender affirming environments for LGBTQ+ youth.
Jessica Bates, a Christian Oregon mom, sued Oregon DHS in 2023 after she was barred from applying to adopt children because of “her objections to affirming a child’s transgender identity,” legal <a href="https://cases.justia.com/federal/appellate-courts/ca9/23-4169/23-4169-2025-07-24.pdf?ts=1753374764" target="_blank" rel="noopener">documents</a> show. Bates, who was represented by legal counsel from Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), initially lost her case but won on appeal and received a preliminary injunction in July 2025 allowing her to move forward with foster and adoption processes.
&#8220;This was really the first appellate circuit court decision ever to address this issue, and we think it reads very strongly in favor of free speech and religious liberty,&#8221; Jon Scruggs, ADF VP of Litigation Strategy, told The Daily Wire.
&#8220;Just because someone refuses to affirm gender ideology, you can&#8217;t deny their ability to foster and adopt. And if that&#8217;s true, I think it certainly flows into biological parents as well, that if anything, biological parents have even stronger rights and adoption applicants.&#8221;
The Oregon DHS Resource and Adoptive Family Training (<a href="https://sharedsystems.dhsoha.state.or.us/DHSForms/Served/de98450.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">RAFT</a>) for foster and adoptive families has a <a href="https://www.oregon.gov/odhs/providers-partners/foster-care/pages/training-certification.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">session</a> devoted to training caregivers to create “affirming homes.”
“You will learn about what it means to affirm (respecting, accepting, and supporting) children’s identities and practice affirmation in the resource home,” the training states.
The training makes clear that parents and caregivers must actively<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WHaID0aD0A&amp;list=PLsrX1nc_gB0qMKoMmmLYYczBJs7gBV3PB&amp;index=10" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> affirm</a> a child’s gender identity by using “correct pronouns” and ensuring a child has clothes that match their chosen sex.
In the final opinion in Bates&#8217;s case, the judge noted that Oregon trained foster and adoptive parents to not only be tolerant of a child’s gender identity, but also to proactively be affirming.
“The state’s own denial of Bates’s application shows that the state does not interpret its policy and the RAFT guidelines to be merely advisory. The state thus cited Bates’s refusal to ‘encourage’ children ‘in this behavior’ as grounds for denying her certification as an adoptive parent,” states the opinion.
<h3>Non-Affirmation Is Abuse</h3>
Oregon’s child welfare policies aren’t limited to the foster care and adoption system. They also affect children residing at home with their parents.
&#8220;The logic of the state&#8217;s argument in the foster context is parents are endangering children&#8217;s lives by refusing to affirm gender ideology,&#8221; Scruggs told The Daily Wire.
&#8220;That logic crosses right over to biological parents and so that&#8217;s one reason we&#8217;re litigating this issue across the country.&#8221;
ADF is providing legal counsel to foster and adoptive parents across the country who are being discriminated against for not affirming gender ideology.
In October 2023, Oregon DHS received a &#8220;call of concern&#8221; about Jane&#8217;s safety while under Nicole’s care. An Oregon DHS report written by a caseworker, reviewed by The Daily Wire, noted Jane was &#8220;currently wanting to transition from female to male&#8221; and that Nicole was “not supportive of this.&#8221; The caseworker pointed out that Nicole and her husband believe &#8220;men are men and women are women.&#8221;
Jane had continued to identify as a boy, and in May 2024, out of concern for her well-being, Nicole asked Jane to watch videos showing the harms of gender ideology.
Nicole told The Daily Wire that she and Jane spent around two hours watching the videos, ate dinner, and went to bed. The evening seemed uneventful.
The next morning, Jane headed off to her public school. But when Nicole went to pick up Jane at the end of the day, she was nowhere to be found. Nicole spent almost two hours frantically trying to locate her and called 911 to report her daughter as missing. She was directed to a police officer, who said Jane went home with a friend because she felt threatened by the gender ideology videos Nicole had shown her the night before.
The police officer brought Jane to Nicole, with the order that she take her daughter to an emergency crisis center. At the center, counselors offered Nicole pamphlets about resources for LGBTQ+ community members, which she refused.
The Oregon Department of Education, in January 2023, released a 48-page <a href="https://www.oregon.gov/ode/students-and-family/equity/civilrights/Documents/ODE-Supporting-Gender-Expansive-Students.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">document</a> titled “Supporting Gender Expansive Students: Guidance for Schools,” which provides practical ways for schools to be gender affirming. The department provides a template to help school staff create gender identity support plans and recommends that school staff keep secrets about students&#8217; &#8220;gender identity.&#8221;
So, while Nicole and her husband tried to reason with Jane at home, the teenager&#8217;s school had been providing her with information about LGBTQ+ identities. Her teachers were calling her by a different name, and her peers pressured her into transitioning to another sex.
Nicole told The Daily Wire that “schools, outside counselors, children&#8217;s friends, phones, echo chambers within social media, and affirming family members” all influenced Jane’s embrace of a transgender identity.
Nicole believed that in June 2024, Jane was starting to see some of the harms of transgenderism. But this change of heart was short-lived, which Nicole believes was due, in part, to the influence of a Christian counselor Jane was seeing for help addressing her underlying struggles.
The counselor advertised herself as having a “Christian worldview,” and Nicole specifically asked the counselor not to discuss LGBTQ+ issues with Jane.
The Daily Wire reviewed a document that suggests the Christian counselor supported Jane’s transgender identity and told Oregon DHS their “main concern is the parents have really particular beliefs about LGBTQ,” and told a caseworker “mom had the perception that since she is listed as a Christian counselor, that she would be against the LGBTQ,” according to an Oregon DHS report.
When Jane used her tablet to access an online “gender support group,” the Christian counselor was “really proud of Jane for reaching out to somebody when she felt she needed help,” according to the report.
Nicole told The Daily Wire the counselor&#8217;s office was &#8220;where a lot of issues occurred.&#8221;
After Jane was taken into state custody in July 2024, the Department of Human Services sent letters to Nicole’s family members, alerting them that Jane needed a place to live. Gender-affirming child welfare systems seek to find “<a href="https://sogiecenter.org/programs/caff/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">chosen affirming families</a>” for transgender identifying children whose parents refuse to transition them to another sex. Nicole told The Daily Wire that this action was devastating, isolating, and harmed her familial relationships.
&#8220;CPS sent letters to my entire family saying, &#8216;Are you willing to take Nicole&#8217;s daughter,&#8217; because, basically — she&#8217;s unfit,&#8221; Nicole told The Daily Wire.
It’s been almost two years since CPS showed up at her door in July 2024. That was the last time Nicole saw her daughter.
“We lost her to the State when she was fifteen, along with all of my parenting rights,&#8221; Nicole told The Daily Wire. &#8220;We just want to bring awareness out there to parents everywhere that this is happening.&#8221;
</div>

Untitled design – 2026-05-31T203930.237

She Wouldn’t Call Her Daughter ‘Trans.’ The State Took Custody.

Parental Rights in Education

This article is part of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/upstream" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Upstream</a>, The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.
***
Parents, what if there was an easy way to make your kids smarter and happier and it would cost you nothing?
Here is the secret: Stop giving your kids handheld devices. Screens are making our kids <a href="https://www.nprillinois.org/2024-01-08/are-phones-making-kids-dumber-new-data-suggests-the-answer-is-yes" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dumber</a>, less emotionally regulated, and unhappy.
This might sound like just another mommy war issue, but the harm of child screen use isn&#8217;t a matter of opinion; it&#8217;s supported by a growing body of scientific research.
Dr. Mark Williams, a professor of cognitive neuroscience and co-author of the book &#8220;Screen Smart Children,&#8221; warned on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBedpPCv5c4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">60 Minutes Australia</a> that too much screen time is damaging kids&#8217; brains. Williams referenced brain scans from two- to five-year-olds that showed a significant deterioration occurs in a child&#8217;s brain after spending up to three hours a day on devices.
“The more time a two- to five-year-old is on a device, the more abnormal those white matter tracts are developing in their brains, which is really concerning for later on in life,” Williams said.
I became a mom in 2013 when the so-called <a href="https://archive.nytimes.com/parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/21/parents-of-the-touch-screen-generation-dont-free-your-ipad-yet/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">iPad kid</a> was just emerging. While pregnant, I remember seeing more and more young children staring at screens at restaurants, stores, and public events. It struck me that instead of learning to look up and be curious about the world around them, children were looking down at their screens — not even interacting with their own families. I didn’t want that for my baby.
It&#8217;s estimated that today <a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/02/26/nx-s1-5308593/children-screens-ai-common-sense-media" target="_blank" rel="noopener">40% of toddlers</a> have their own device by age two, more than half of kindergarteners have their own device, and <a href="https://www.edweek.org/technology/heres-how-many-elementary-students-have-their-own-cellphones-and-tablets/2025/02" target="_blank" rel="noopener">one in four kids</a> has a smartphone by age eight. Technology is reshaping American childhood and our future.
<div id="attachment_1090125" style="width: 873px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1090125" class="wp-image-1090125 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/IMG_4277-863x576.jpg" alt="" width="863" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/IMG_4277-863x576.jpg 863w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/IMG_4277-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/IMG_4277-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/IMG_4277-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/IMG_4277-2048x1367.jpg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/IMG_4277-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/IMG_4277-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes=" (max-width: 863px) 100vw, 863px" />Photo by Megan Brock</div>
My husband and I grew up in the &#8217;80s and &#8217;90s with plenty of TV, movies, and Super Mario, but without the strain of personal devices. When I was pregnant, we decided we weren’t going to raise iPad kids. We wanted to give them as close to a &#8217;90s analog childhood as possible. For us, this meant no access to cell phones, iPads, immersive video games, or social media. TV and movies were still on the table.
This was a countercultural decision, and some were skeptical it could be accomplished. But we did it. My son is turning 13 this year, and he’s never had his own device. I’m convinced that giving him an analog-ish childhood is one of the best parenting decisions my husband and I have made.
This choice wasn&#8217;t hard to implement, but it did take determination, particularly when our kids were five and under. There were many times I was tempted to use devices to soothe a child’s distress or just get a few moments of peace and quiet.
But deep down, I instinctively knew that handing my kids devices for comfort or ease was taking away opportunities for their growth and development. Science backs this up. A 2025 systematic <a href="https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/bul-bul0000468.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">review</a> found that the more a child used screens, the more likely he was to have socio-emotional problems. And the more such problems he had, the more likely he was to soothe himself with screens. It&#8217;s a lose-lose cycle for kids.
Emotional regulation is something we all have to learn, and we learn it through experience and socialization. As a society, we’ve forgotten that it’s good for kids to be bored at a restaurant. It’s good for a toddler to smile at strangers in the grocery store. It’s even good for preschoolers to see something they want at Target and throw a tantrum because they can&#8217;t have it; they are learning the limits of their will amid the safety of their parents&#8217; love.
Over the years, my husband and I have made some adaptations to our family screen policy. When traveling on a long flight, all screen time bets are off for the sake of our sanity and respect for fellow passengers. We&#8217;ve used video calls to maintain relationships with distant family. We also let our son start playing on a Nintendo Switch at nine and a half — earlier than I would have liked — with parameters: limits on the types of games he can access (no role-playing games), set times when he can play, and no internet gaming with strangers.
We&#8217;ve also let our kids watch TV and movies with moderation. In alignment with our &#8217;90s childhoods, this happened on a social, stationary TV in the living room rather than an isolating handheld device.
Our kids have made it to double digits without the heavy burden of devices, and I see how it’s benefited them. They play outside every day, are very social, and enjoy reading.
<div id="attachment_1090131" style="width: 873px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1090131" class="wp-image-1090131 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/DSC_0333-863x576.jpg" alt="" width="863" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/DSC_0333-863x576.jpg 863w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/DSC_0333-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/DSC_0333-768x513.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/DSC_0333-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/DSC_0333-2048x1367.jpg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/DSC_0333-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/DSC_0333-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes=" (max-width: 863px) 100vw, 863px" />Photo by Megan Brock</div>
Increased screen time often goes hand-in-hand with a loss of imaginative and independent play. Today’s parents have embraced a culture of “<a href="https://www.stern.nyu.edu/experience-stern/faculty-research/safety-police-free-speech-being-stifled-college-campuses" target="_blank" rel="noopener">safetyism</a>” that Jonathan Haidt, author of &#8220;The Anxious Generation,&#8221; describes as an extreme elimination of risk in a child’s life that cultivates fragility and ultimately prevents kids from reaching their full potential.
Haidt and Lenore Skenazy, founder of the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Free-Range-Kids-Parents-Teachers-Grow/dp/1119782147" target="_blank" rel="noopener">free range kids</a> movement, are part of <a href="https://letgrow.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Let Grow</a>, an organization focused on helping parents build resilience and confidence in their children by giving them developmentally appropriate independence.
This is a part of the screen time conversation that often gets lost. It&#8217;s not just about what kids are doing; it&#8217;s about what they’re not doing because they are addicted to screens. They aren’t playing in the woods and riding bikes down the street. They aren’t climbing trees and making new friends. As modern parents, we have to be intentional about making sure our kids are getting outside, playing hard, and scraping their knees from time to time — without us hovering over them.
For young parents who want to give their kids an analog-ish childhood, don’t listen to anyone telling you it’s impossible in 2026. You can do it. And it&#8217;s a decision you won’t regret.
Cultivating curiosity and a love of nature in your kids is one of life&#8217;s great joys. When our kids were little, my husband and I constantly took them to parks, to playgrounds, and on hikes. We let them play in mud and taught them how to skim rocks on a creek. We stayed up late in the summer, having water fights and catching fireflies. Teaching them to look up and see the beauty in the world costs very little money and left us with priceless memories.
We are only beginning to realize the negative consequences of the digital-based childhood revolution. &#8220;The Anxious Generation&#8221; provides a deep dive into how preteens and teenagers are being severely harmed by smartphones and social media. Despite extremely worrisome data, approximately 90% of 13-year-olds have a cell phone, according to <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/fact-sheet/teens-and-internet-device-access-fact-sheet/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pew Research</a>.
Every day, we are making choices with our time and attention. As an adult with a fully developed brain, I often struggle to unplug from my devices. It takes discipline and intentionality to uphold good technology boundaries.
I know my kids will one day have to learn to be disciplined with technology, but I want to give their brains a chance to develop before assaulting them with the constant pull of a screen.
The technology genie is here to stay, and it&#8217;s not going back into the bottle. But as parents, we don’t have to put the genie in the hands of our children. We can say no. We can choose a different path for our families.
Let&#8217;s direct our children’s minds, curiosity, and attention toward our big, beautiful world that’s full of mystery. Let’s help them look up and out — toward friends, nature, and creativity instead of down at a lifeless screen. Their brains will thank us later.

A beautiful little girl having fun at the seaside

The ‘90s Childhood Comeback

Motherhood

Parenting

Technology

Upstream

<div>The Department of Justice (DOJ) informed the state of Washington today that it is investigating whether the state&#8217;s prison policies violate the Constitution.</div>
<div></div>
<div>The DOJ is launching a federal investigation into Washington State&#8217;s practice of housing men in women&#8217;s prisons, the Daily Wire can first report. It will investigate if these policies violate the constitutional rights of incarcerated women housed at the Washington Corrections Center for Women (WCCW) in Gig Harbor, Washington.</div>
<div></div>
<div>The Washington Department of Corrections (DOC) gives violent male convicts who self-identify as transgender full access to the women’s prisons, including cells, bathrooms, and showers.</div>
<div></div>
<div>“Under my leadership, the Civil Rights Division will not allow women incarcerated in jails or prisons to be subject to unconstitutional risks of harm from male inmates,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon. “The constitutional rights of women cannot be sacrificed at the altar of appeasing unsupported and dangerous ideologies.”</div>
<div></div>
<div>The DOJ investigation comes on the heels of an April 2026 <a href="https://www.americafirstpolicy.com/assets/uploads/files/AFPI_WDOC_Complaint_04.27.26.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lawsuit</a> filed by The America First Policy Institute (AFPI) that argues forcing women to share a prison with violent men violates the fundamental constitutional rights of women to be safe while incarcerated. The lawsuit describes two women who were allegedly assaulted by Christopher Williams, a man who self-identifies as female. The lawsuit calls Williams a “six-foot-four, ‘biologically intact’ male” and “convicted child sex offender” with a history of violence against women.</div>
<div></div>
<div>The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/women-sue-prison-system-for-allowing-violent-trans-male-to-terrorize-inmates?author=Megan+Brock&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=1&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Women+Terrorized+By+%E2%80%98Trans%E2%80%99+Male+Inmate+Launch+Massive+Lawsuit+Against+Prison+System" target="_blank" rel="noopener">uncovered</a> a document through a public records request showing the former Superintendent of a male prison where Williams had been incarcerated recommended against his transfer to WCCW due to his history of violence against women.</div>
<div></div>
<div>The DOJ will investigate allegations of &#8220;cruel and unusual punishment&#8221; against female prisoners, including claims of sexual violence being perpetrated against women by male inmates at WCCW.</div>
<div></div>
<div>&#8220;The Justice Department will investigate allegations of deprivation of female prisoners’ Eighth Amendment protections from cruel and unusual punishment, including Washington’s response to allegations of sexual assaults, rape, voyeurism, and sexual intimidation based on WCCW’s housing of male prisoners in the exclusively female facility,&#8221; a DOJ press release states.</div>
<div></div>
<div>Washington DOC has some of the nation&#8217;s most radical transgender policies and provides tax-funded sex change surgeries to inmates who claim to be transgender. A Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/taxpayers-pay-millions-to-surgeon-who-performs-transgender-surgeries-in-prisons?author=Megan+Brock&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=23&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Just+How+Much+Of+Your+Money+Funds+Trans+Surgeries+In+Prison" target="_blank" rel="noopener">investigation</a> showed the state of Washington gave millions of taxpayer dollars to a controversial “gender-affirming” surgeon who performs surgeries on prison inmates.</div>
<div></div>
<div>The DOJ has launched a nationwide initiative examining men being housed in Women’s Prisons and is encouraging individuals with &#8220;relevant information&#8221; on this issue to contact the DOJ, according to the press release.</div>

Inmate Burnet County Jail

EXCLUSIVE: DOJ Investigating Prison System That Forces Women To Share Cells With Violent Men

Prison

Washington

Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Martin Makary says his agency is working hard to bring back &#8220;gold standard science&#8221; while Americans&#8217; trust in science and medicine is at historic lows.
&#8220;We have brought back gold standard science and taken politics out of the process,&#8221; Makary told The Daily Wire during an exclusive interview this week. &#8220;We&#8217;ve been going hard on what&#8217;s right. Be it the COVID vaccine, be it getting back to basic science — gold-standard science &#8230; We are going up against Big Food, Big Pharma, and we aren&#8217;t afraid to stand up to them.&#8221;
Makary has drawn criticism from both sides of the aisle during his 14 months as FDA Commissioner. <a href="https://democrats-energycommerce.house.gov/media/press-releases/ec-democrats-demand-answers-fdas-covid-vaccine-memo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Democrats</a> have criticized his vaccine policies, while pro-life groups have called for his resignation over what they say is inaction on Biden-era abortion pill regulations. Asked about safety concerns surrounding the abortion drug mifepristone, Makary told The Daily Wire the FDA is committed to addressing these concerns and that a study on the drug&#8217;s safety is underway.
&#8220;There needs to be a good, detailed granular study for mifepristone, which to date has not been done. We have committed to conducting a granular study,&#8221; Makary told The Daily Wire. &#8220;We&#8217;re doing it the right way, and that study will inform any potential next steps.&#8221;
But <a href="https://www.fda.gov/about-fda/fda-organization/martin-makary" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Makary</a> has experience swimming through the turbulent waters of public opinion. A pioneering surgeon at Johns Hopkins University, Makary is the author of more than 300 peer-reviewed medical journal articles and was one of the few scientists calling out the politicization of science during the COVID pandemic.
Under Makary, the FDA is on a mission to make American children healthier, find new treatments for diseases, and regain America&#8217;s place as a world leader in scientific breakthroughs.
&#8220;When I came into office 14 months ago, the year prior, China was doing four times the number of phase one trials as the United States,&#8221; Makary said. &#8220;In the first Trump administration, the U.S. was the leader, and that changed under the Biden administration. We walked into a mess.&#8221;
Makary says the agency is achieving its mission in record time. Within weeks of his March 2025 Senate confirmation, the FDA and the Department of Health and Human Services announced an initiative to phase out petroleum-based food dyes, something Makary says the FDA talked about doing for decades.
&#8220;We announced action to remove all nine artificial dyes from the U.S. food supply,&#8221; Makary told The Daily Wire. &#8220;A lot of companies are ahead of schedule. It is a tremendous success. These are petroleum-based artificial dyes. American kids don&#8217;t need more petroleum in their bodies.&#8221;
In the past 14 months, the FDA has also taken steps to <a href="https://www.hhs.gov/press-room/wtas-fda-announces-major-steps-implement-real-time-clinical-trials.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">modernize</a> and increase the efficiency of drug applications and trials. The FDA launched the Commissioner&#8217;s National Priority Voucher program, which <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzMG6_hOB5w" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reduces wait times</a> for drug applications and allows therapies for rare diseases to forgo randomized trials, which are <a href="https://www.hhs.gov/press-room/wtas-fda-launches-framework-accelerating-therapies-ultra-rare-diseases.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">difficult</a> to conduct due to small patient populations.
&#8220;We introduced a new pathway to approve drugs at the speed patients would demand if they&#8217;re suffering from a terminal or debilitating condition,&#8221; Makary said. &#8220;Typically, the FDA takes a year to review and file a drug application. We have that down now to one to two months, regularly.&#8221;
The Daily Wire asked Makary about criticisms he&#8217;s faced over the FDA&#8217;s rejection of several drug applications, including those for cancer treatments. Patient groups say Makary&#8217;s FDA is <a href="https://www.wsj.com/opinion/president-trumps-marty-makary-problem-08ebd71a">slow-walking</a> rare disease drugs, making companies jump through unnecessary hoops in order to get approval for things like Huntington&#8217;s Disease.
But Makary says it&#8217;s simply a matter of good science.
&#8220;There&#8217;s a very simple system at the FDA: if the drug works, it gets approved,&#8221; Makary told The Daily Wire.
In an effort to regain the public trust in science and medicine, the FDA is giving the public unprecedented transparency of the drug application process.
&#8220;If the drug fails in its trial and the FDA does not approve it, in my opinion, the public deserves to know why. So we have taken the bold step of making our decision letters public information.&#8221;
The FDA has posted the complete response letters of approved and non-approved new drug applications on its<a href="https://open.fda.gov/apis/transparency/completeresponseletters/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> website</a>.
&#8220;In the past, politics has resulted in overruling scientists at the agency. But in this Trump administration, we stand by our scientists,&#8221; Makary told The Daily Wire.
&#8220;Every time the commissioner has overruled scientists at the FDA, it&#8217;s been a fiasco. The Biden administration overruled scientists who recommended against approving the Covid vaccine for healthy children. It was a fiasco.&#8221;
The FDA is also taking bold steps to improve the quality of school lunches and baby formula.
After hearing from parents wanting better quality food in schools, the FDA launched a <a href="https://x.com/DrMakaryFDA/status/2045249715642495124?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pilot</a> program giving schools resources to provide healthier meals to students. The program has been hugely successful, showing a 70 to 80% reduction in pesticides and 80% to 90% reduction in heavy metals contained in school lunches, Makary told The Daily Wire.
&#8220;We proved that you can make a switch to healthier food in an affordable way,&#8221; Makary said.
On April 29, the FDA released results of the <a href="https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-releases-results-largest-ever-testing-infant-formula-us" target="_blank" rel="noopener">largest-ever testing</a> of infant formula in the United States, testing more than 300 infant formula samples for contaminants such as mercury, lead, and forever chemicals like PFAS. The testing found the samples overwhelmingly had undetectable or very low levels of contaminants, which Makary called a &#8220;resounding success.&#8221;
&#8220;Many companies find it too hard to bring new products to market because you have to follow a rigid recipe,&#8221; Makary said. &#8220;So we are modernizing the monograph that&#8217;ll enable more companies to come to market, that will both lower prices and create more options for moms that are healthier, while at the same time, make the supply chain more resilient.&#8221;
In the midst of swirling public opinion, Makary remains focused on the FDA&#8217;s mission to promote strong science and healthier Americans.
&#8220;We set the priority of the agency to a simple mission of more cures, meaningful treatments, and healthier food for children.&#8221;

Untitled design – 2026-05-08T091712.133

EXCLUSIVE: FDA Commissioner Marty Makary Says He’s Taking Politics Out Of Science

Abortion Drug

MAHA

Mifepristone

Trump Administration

Incarcerated women are suing a state prison system that allows violent “transgender” men to be housed in female prisons.
The Washington Department of Corrections (DOC) gives violent male convicts who self-identify as transgender full access to women’s prisons, including cells, bathrooms, and showers. The America First Policy Institute (AFPI) argues these actions are discriminatory and unsafe. By forcing women to share a prison with violent men, Washington DOC is violating the fundamental constitutional rights of women to be safe while incarcerated, according to a <a href="https://www.americafirstpolicy.com/assets/uploads/files/AFPI_WDOC_Complaint_04.27.26.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lawsuit</a> filed on April 27.
“Washington’s housing policy subjects women to cruel and unusual punishment by disregarding the biological differences that justify sex-separated facilities in the first place,” Leigh Ann O’Neill, an AFPI attorney representing the plaintiffs, told The Daily Wire. “I am proud to support this action on behalf of the female inmates.”
The lawsuit highlights public data showing that over 50% of males in federal prisons who self-identified as transgender between May 2024 and January 2025 were sex offenders. Placing male sex offenders in women&#8217;s prisons has resulted in physical and sexual assaults against women.
&#8220;The housing of these male inmates with females — including as bunkmates in the same cell — has led to multiple instances of violence and sexual abuse against the female inmates, persistent harassment, and the routine intimidation of female inmates in violation of their fundamental constitutional rights to serve their sentences in safety and without further punishment,&#8221; states the lawsuit. &#8220;[Washington] DOC&#8217;s Transgender Inmate Policy exposes female inmates to a population statistically more likely of having committed a sexual offense, and only females can become pregnant as a result of these offenses.&#8221;
The plaintiffs, the Foundation Against Intolerance &amp; Racism, Inc., and Faith Booher-Smith, are suing the Washington DOC and Tim Lang in his official capacity as Secretary of the Department of Corrections.
&gt;<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-1087979 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/Screenshot-21-1024x385.jpeg" alt="" width="1024" height="385" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/Screenshot-21-1024x385.jpeg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/Screenshot-21-300x113.jpeg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/Screenshot-21-768x289.jpeg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/Screenshot-21-1536x578.jpeg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/Screenshot-21.jpeg 1715w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Booher-Smith, an incarcerated woman housed at Washington Corrections Center for Women (WCCW), alleges she was physically assaulted in August 2025 by Christopher Williams, a man who self-identifies as female.
“Williams approached her silently from behind and struck her on the side of her face with his fist, then grabbed her hair and threw her to the ground before kicking her repeatedly with such force that she sustained visible injuries, including, facial bruising, a laceration in her mouth, and swelling to her jaw and eye,” states the lawsuit.
Williams is described in the lawsuit as a “six-foot-four, ‘biologically intact’ male” and “convicted child sex offender” that allegedly <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/male-sex-offender-claims-to-be-trans-accused-of-harassment-in-womens-prison" target="_blank" rel="noopener">assaulted</a> and harassed his former cell mate, Mozzy Clark.
“As Ms. Clark has alleged, Williams sexually assaulted her for months during the time she was forced to share a cell with him,” states the lawsuit. “Williams masturbated in front of her, groped her while she slept, and repeatedly threatened her with rape.”
Clark brought allegations against Williams in a <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.wawd.343153/gov.uscourts.wawd.343153.1.0.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lawsuit</a> she filed against the Washington DOC in December 2024.
Claiming he did not feel safe “being classified as male,” Williams repeatedly asked to be transferred to WCCW, public <a href="https://cdn01.dailycaller.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Doc2-copy.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">records</a> show. A Washington DOC Housing Assignment Review committee denied his request in November 2019, recommending instead that he was transferred to a single cell in a male prison due to his “past violence towards women,” public records <a href="https://cdn01.dailycaller.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Doc1-copy-1.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">show</a>.
When Williams requested to be transferred to WCCW in the summer of 2021, Eric Jackson, the former Superintendent of a male prison where Williams had been incarcerated, recommended against his transfer to WCCW due to his history of violence against women.
“Due to Williams&#8217; serious infraction history and the most recent conviction where Williams assaulted and inflicted serious life-threatening injuries to a female victim, would not recommend placement at WCCW,” a document from August 2021 exclusively obtained by The Daily Wire states.
Despite these recommendations, the Washington DOC moved Williams to WCCW in the fall of 2021 in alignment with its transgender housing policies. Within months of his arrival to WCCW, Williams allegedly assaulted Clark.
Williams is serving a sentence for first-degree assault and has an <a href="https://doc.wa.gov/sentencing-frequently-asked-questions" target="_blank" rel="noopener">earned release</a> date of 2038, according to previous <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2025/05/08/exclusive-male-transgender-inmate-who-allegedly-terrorized-female-cellmate-long-history-prison-violence/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reporting</a>. He is currently being housed in a male prison, according to the Washington DOC <a href="https://vinelink.vineapps.com/person-detail/offender/355377" target="_blank" rel="noopener">website</a>.
The Washington DOC published its <a href="https://oco.wa.gov/sites/default/files/2021%20OCO%20Trans%20Report%20FINAL%20with%20DOC%20Response.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">first transgender policy</a> allowing inmates to be <a href="https://doc.wa.gov/sites/default/files/data/files/490700.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">housed according</a> to their gender identity, rather than biology, in February 2020.
&#8220;Nothing in the Policy even prohibits a male who is sexually attracted to females — let alone a male convicted of raping females —  from ultimately sharing an unsupervised cell with a female inmate, so long as he claims to &#8216;identify&#8217; as a woman,&#8221; states the lawsuit.
&#8220;Male inmates known to Plaintiffs who are attracted to females and who make no effort to conform to a female &#8216;gender identity&#8217; are permitted to be housed at WCCW, share a cell with female inmates, enter the bathrooms and other intimate spaces designated for females, and even have sexual relations with female inmates.&#8221;
“Women are uniquely exposed to risks — including the possibility of pregnancy — that male inmates do not face. That disparity underscores a fundamental violation of the women’s equal protection rights,&#8221; O’Neill told The Daily Wire.
Washington DOC has some of the most radical transgender policies in the country. It further expanded its gender ideology policies in October 2023 after reaching a <a href="https://disabilityrightswa.org/drw-reaches-agreement-with-doc-to-improve-care-for-transgender-people-with-disabilities/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">settlement</a> with <a href="https://disabilityrightswa.org/about-us/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Disability Rights Washington</a> (DRW), a federally funded <a href="https://taggs.hhs.gov/Detail/RecipDetail?arg_EntityId=ZOXBFfA5zdfgkqJp4FjugQ%3D%3D" target="_blank" rel="noopener">nonprofit</a> that claimed the prison system was <a href="https://disabilityrightswa.org/drw-reaches-agreement-with-doc-to-improve-care-for-transgender-people-with-disabilities/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">violating</a> the rights of transgender inmates by failing to provide medical sex-change procedures. The Washington DOC now provides inmates with cross-sex clothing, surgery, and sex-change medical interventions as part of the settlement.
The AFPI legal team says this special treatment of men is further evidence of discrimination against women, who have to pay for personal items and accommodations that are provided to trans-identifying male inmates at no cost.
“[Washington] DOC routinely categorizes medically necessary care for female inmates as ‘elective’ or ‘non-urgent,’ resulting in delay or denial of treatment. At the same time, sex-rejecting procedures for trans-identifying male inmates are approved and prioritized under standards that are no more urgent—and in many cases less urgent or entirely unnecessary—than the care denied to female 
inmates,” states the lawsuit.
The Washington DOC told The Daily Wire it does not comment on pending litigation.

People’s March In Washington D.C. Ahead Of Donald Trump’s Inauguration

Women Terrorized By ‘Trans’ Male Inmate Launch Massive Lawsuit Against Prison System

Women

Public schools teaching children about sexuality and transgenderism without parental consent have been put on notice by the Department of Justice.
The Justice Department&#8217;s Civil Rights Division <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-launches-investigations-concerning-gender-ideology-pre-k-12-schools-36" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> Thursday it was investigating 36 Illinois school districts to find out if they have sexual orientation and gender ideology content in their pre-k and K-12 curricula, noting these districts receive hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal funding.
“This Department of Justice is determined to put an end to local school authorities keeping parents in the dark about how sexuality and gender ideology are being pushed in classrooms,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon.
“Supreme Court precedent leaves no doubt: parents have the fundamental right and primary authority to direct the care, upbringing, and education of their children. This includes exempting their children from ideological instruction that contradicts their values or decisions about their children’s health and best interests.”
The Supreme Court sided with parents when it <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/supreme-court-sides-with-parents-says-schools-cant-mandate-lgbt-curricula" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ruled</a> in June 2025 that parents have the right to opt their children out of LGBT programs in public schools.
If Illinois school districts are discovered to be teaching students sexual orientation and gender identity content, the DOJ will determine if parents have been given the chance to opt out of the programming. The department will also be investigating whether students can access bathrooms and locker rooms based on biological sex and whether only biological females can compete on girls&#8217; sports teams.
Shannon Adcock, founder and president of the parental rights group <a href="https://www.awakeil.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Awake Illinois</a>, called the investigation a &#8220;huge win&#8221; for parents.
&#8220;The DOJ’s launch of investigations into 36 Illinois school districts for pushing gender ideology in Pre-K-12 classrooms without proper parental notification is a huge win for parental rights and child protection,&#8221; Adcock told The Daily Wire. &#8220;For years, groups like Awake Illinois have been on the front lines demanding transparency, opt-out rights, and adherence to Title IX — protecting single-sex spaces, girls’ sports, and biological reality in our schools,&#8221; Adcock told The Daily Wire.
&#8220;Every district under scrutiny should immediately restore parental authority and biological fairness,&#8221; she added. &#8220;We won’t stop until our kids’ schools prioritize truth, safety, and parental involvement over ideology.&#8221;

US-POLITICS-JUSTICE-EDUCATION-LGBTQ

Justice Department Investigating Schools That Secretly Teach Children About Transgenderism

LGBT

Public Schools

The Southern Poverty Law Center labeled Moms For Liberty a hate group just days before its national conference, causing protests to descend on the event and inundate attendees with threats of violence.
Over 600 parents, conservative leaders, and five presidential candidates — including Donald Trump — gathered for four days at the Philadelphia Downtown Marriott Hotel for the <a href="https://portal.momsforliberty.org/summit23/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Moms for Liberty</a> National Summit 2023. Just three weeks before, the SPLC added the grassroots parents&#8217; group to its list of extremist groups. Tina Descovich, co-founder and CEO of Moms For Liberty, told The Daily Wire that the pushback was almost immediate — and frightening.
“Their label sent thousands of protesters to our event, protestors smashed in windows of the venue the night before, and spray-painted over historical displays,&#8221; Descovich said. &#8220;They surrounded the venue for days. Philly PD had to call in the riot force and extra equipment. The following months and weeks were filled with continued threats and harassment.&#8221;
“Adding us right before our 2023 National Summit, where we hosted five presidential candidates, was not an accident; it was calculated and coordinated,” Descovich added.
The SPLC has come under renewed scrutiny after the Justice Department last week released a sweeping indictment of the controversial leftist group. The SPLC is alleged to have funneled millions to hate groups like the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-hints-at-major-2020-move-if-splc-found-guilty-of-fraud?row=0&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;rowType=Web+Search+Overlay" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ku Klux Klan</a> from 2014 to 2023. The group claims it was paying informants, but critics say the SPLC was simply propping up its own targets — most notoriously by allegedly helping fund the infamous 2017 &#8220;Unite The Right&#8221; rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
&#8220;Once the SPLC labeled us, it gave people in my community and even extended family justification for really vile behavior towards me. I tried to protect my kids from the hate I received, but it wasn’t long before even they knew I was a target for people’s hate,&#8221; Kit Hart, Moms For Liberty membership engagement coordinator, told The Daily Wire. &#8220;It’s something no innocent mom should be subjected to.&#8221;
&#8220;A group of us had dinner reservations offsite and the moment we exited the building, we were berated and screamed at,&#8221; Hart recalls. &#8220;The protestors had been waiting all day for members of our organization to leave the doors of the hotel to shove signs in our faces, curse at us and show every sign of aggression you can think of. As we were walking to our Uber, we needed to be escorted by security.&#8221;
An LGBTQ+ group called The Agenda PAC obtained the hotel room numbers of Moms For Liberty members, and while they slept, left door hangers on their hotel rooms that said &#8220;Please Disturb: Fascism In Progress. Did you know a designated hate group is staying at this hotel?&#8221;
Pennsylvania State Representative Malcolm Kenyatta, who is currently a Vice Chair of the Democratic National Committee, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2022-election/new-political-group-forms-campaign-anti-lgbtq-candidates-rcna45710" target="_blank" rel="noopener">chaired</a> The Agenda PAC.
A heavy police presence was stationed outside the hotel for the duration of the conference to keep attendees safe. Protesters, carrying pride flags and signs with hateful messages such as &#8220;Ban The Fascists,&#8221; &#8220;F*ck Nazi&#8217;s,&#8221; and &#8220;<a href="https://whyy.org/articles/philadelphia-moms-for-liberty-summit-protest-photos/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Klanned Kookie Karens</a>,&#8221; camped outside the hotel for the duration of the conference and harassed women as they entered or exited. One group of moms was <a href="https://x.com/scarlett4kids/status/2048178067299017024?s=46&amp;t=ZAoIkqhiKpZyQayFV_2XbQ" target="_blank" rel="noopener">swarmed</a> by a group of protesters when they tried to leave the hotel in an Uber. Several protesters were <a href="https://whyy.org/articles/philadelphia-moms-for-liberty-summit-people-arrested-during-protests/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">arrested.</a>
Despite the tensions and security concerns, the planned programming was uninterrupted, and President Trump commented on the SPLC label during his speech.
&#8220;The radical Left is even slandering Moms for Liberty as a so-called hate group,&#8221; President Trump stated during<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_D7iYcQACU" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> his speech</a>. &#8220;Can you imagine Moms for Liberty, a hate group? I&#8217;m telling you, these people are sick.&#8221;
The conference gained attention from national media outlets, which<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/29/us/politics/moms-for-liberty-republicans.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> consistently</a> associated Moms For Liberty with the <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/06/30/moms-for-liberty-convention-philadelphia-protests/70363926007/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SPLC</a> hate group label. A group of Democratic Pennsylvania state senators used the SPLC label to fuel their <a href="https://epgn.com/2023/05/11/philadelphia-marriott-facing-criticism-for-hosting-right-wing-summit/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ongoing campaign</a> to get the 2023 summit canceled. The politicians sent a <a href="https://x.com/SenatorSaval/status/1672011058834206721/photo/1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">letter</a> to the Museum of the American Revolution, where a welcome event for the summit was held, asking that it cut ties with Moms For Liberty.
“Moms for Liberty, put plainly, is a hate group. This is not hyperbole — on June 6, 2023, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) designated Moms for Liberty a hate group, and specifically, as an ‘anti-government extremist group,'&#8221; the letter reads. “The Museum’s leadership has demonstrated a lack of judgment in agreeing to host a hate group. Fortunately, the mistake can be fixed with a simple and elegant solution: cancel the Moms for Liberty event scheduled for June 29.”
This reporter was present at the June 2023 summit and can easily recall the throngs of protesters and increased security. To avoid harassment from the mob of protesters outside of the hotel, attendees exited the Marriott hotel from a discreet side entrance and were covertly bused to the museum, where we were greeted by a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XuDs2bbVJE" target="_blank" rel="noopener">raucous crowd</a> screaming from behind a metal barricade, &#8220;Get the f*ck out of here&#8221; and &#8220;Philly is a trans city.&#8221; Police officers acted as a human shield and formed a path that allowed us a safe entrance to the museum.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
The door hangers on each hotel room door in Philadelphia tonight where the Moms for Liberty hate convention is taking place are incredible. <a href="https://t.co/KKREKXCLas">pic.twitter.com/KKREKXCLas</a>
— Adam Parkhomenko (@AdamParkhomenko) <a href="https://twitter.com/AdamParkhomenko/status/1674642405985861633?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 30, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The impact of the SPLC’s extremist label extended far past the summer of 2023 and continues to weigh on parents today. The SPLC has an interactive &#8220;<a href="https://www.splcenter.org/hate-map/?hm_year=2024">hate map</a>,&#8221; and Moms for Liberty chapters make up the single <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/splcs-favorite-conservative-targets-get-the-last-laugh">largest</a> bloc of any organization on it, putting a target on the back of each local group.
“Every day since the SPLC added Moms for Liberty to its hate map, our organization has had a dangerous target on our back. Members have been doxed, cancelled, and threatened,” Descovich told The Daily Wire. &#8220;The fabricated lies told by the SPLC have caused extensive harm to our organization and our members.&#8221;
For the past three years, Moms For Liberty Wisconsin leader Scarlett Johnson has also been harassed, defamed, and feared for her own safety after being labeled a far-right extremist by the SPLC.
“I lived this. I was harassed, doxxed, and even sued. And almost every article, every interview, every news segment about me included the same line — that I’m part of Moms for Liberty, a group the SPLC labeled as extremist,” Johnson told The Daily Wire. “That label followed me everywhere. It changed how people looked at me, spoke to me, and treated me.&#8221;
&#8220;It was the slow, grinding loss of normalcy that no one ever gives back,&#8221; she added.
Johnson said the SPLC label didn’t just draw the ire of leftists, but made some local Republicans hesitant to be affiliated with her and the group. Rachel Carroll Rivas, deputy director for research, reporting, and analysis at the SPLC, admitted that was the group&#8217;s goal in a June 2023 interview with <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/06/07/1180486760/splc-moms-for-liberty-extremist-group" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NPR</a>.
“Carroll Rivas said she hopes that adding Moms for Liberty and similar groups to its extremist list will help inform communities, reporters and politicians who are just learning about them,&#8221; NPR reported. &#8220;And, perhaps, that it might tarnish association with those organizations.&#8221;
Johnson told The Daily Wire she is thankful SPLC is being investigated, but the reputational damage they’ve caused can&#8217;t be undone.
“Not everyone understands what the SPLC is or how those labels get used — but politicians and media repeated it without question,” Johnson told The Daily Wire. “And when you repeat something like that over and over, it doesn’t just shape a narrative. It hardens into something people act on.”
The SPLC did not respond to The Daily Wire&#8217;s request for comment.

Republican Presidential Candidates Speak At The Moms For Liberty Summit

The SPLC Burn Book That Damaged The Lives Of Everyday Parents

Philadelphia

Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)

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