(The Center Square) — The Department of Justice recently released a memo to recipients of federal funding, warning them that programs involving diversity, equity and inclusion are unlawful discrimination. 

The nine-page memo clarifies that federal anti-discrimination laws apply to programs that involve discriminatory practices, including DEI policies. Organizations that receive federal funding are subject to federal anti-discrimination laws and must ensure that their programs do not discriminate against race, gender, religion and more, the memo added. 

“This Department of Justice will not stand by while recipients of federal funds engage in illegal discrimination,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “This guidance will ensure we are serving the American people and not ideological agendas.”

Robert Kelchen, a professor in the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, in an email to Inside Higher Ed, said the enrollment process is already challenging for colleges and universities.

“The only truly safe ways to admit students right now are to admit everyone or only use standardized test scores,” Kelchen wrote. “Being an enrollment management leader has always been tough, but now it’s even more challenging to meet revenue targets and satisfy stakeholders who have politically incompatible goals.”

The new guidance memo emphasizes the major legal risks associated with programs that take part in discrimination.

“The very foundation of our anti-discrimination laws rests on the principle that every American deserves equal opportunity, regardless of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, or other protected characteristics,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon. 

To help entities avoid violations and the revocation of federal grant funding, the memo concludes on page 8 with recommendations on best practices:  

“Ensure Inclusive Access, Focus on Skills and Qualifications, Prohibit Demographic-Driven Criteria, Document Legitimate Rationales, Scrutinize Neutral Criteria for Proxy Effects, Eliminate Diversity Quotas, Avoid Exclusionary Training Programs, Include Nondiscrimination Clauses in Contracts to Third Parties and Monitor Compliance, Establish Clear Anti-Retaliation Procedures and Create Safe Reporting Mechanisms.”

“Entities are urged to review all programs, policies, and partnerships to ensure compliance with federal law, and discontinue any practices that discriminate on the basis of a protected status,” the memo concludes. “By prioritizing nondiscrimination, entities can mitigate the legal, financial and reputational risks associated with unlawful DEI practices and fulfill their civil rights obligations.”

(The Center Square) – The Texas Senate on Wednesday passed for a second time a ban on THC.

In the regular legislative session, the Senate passed SB 3, filed by state Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, with bipartisan support in both chambers. Gov. Greg Abbott then vetoed it in the last hour of the last day allowed by the Texas Constitution after the legislature adjourned and couldn’t convene to override it.

Next, Abbott proposed legalizing THC for adults over age 21, making it a legislative priority for the special session, which began July 21. However, the Texas Legislature, led by Republicans, oppose Abbott’s proposal and oppose legalizing THC and marijuana.

The Texas Senate next passed Perry’s second THC ban, SB 5, out of committee with bipartisan support last week. The full Senate passed it on Wednesday by a vote of 21-8.

The Texas House is also not backing down on a THC ban. An identical bill to Perry’s was filed by state Rep. Gary VanDeaver, R-New Boston, HB 5.

In response to the Senate again passing the THC ban, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said, “Since 2019, bad actors have taken advantage of a loophole in Texas agriculture law to sell potent, intoxicating forms of THC that have nothing to do with agriculture. These shops have rapidly spread throughout Texas, endangering the health and safety of children and families across our state, with no accountability. These products, often containing dangerous levels of THC, are marketed directly towards young people with colorful packaging and images, making THC look like candy or sweets.”

Patrick has made a THC ban his mission this year, holding multiple press conferences and posting videos on social media about why a ban is important.

A THC ban remains a legislative priority, he said on Wednesday, “because we refuse to let these rogue retailers exploit loopholes in state law to sell dangerous THC products into our communities.”

The bill has the support of every law enforcement agency in Texas, the Texas Medical Association, Texas Pediatric Society, and many families impacted by THC. Law enforcement officers oppose regulating it, arguing regulation won’t work. Current regulation related to hemp farming has already been abused and unenforced, witnesses testified, pointing out that an official list of hemp growers includes smoke shops, extract labs and closed businesses.

Abbott is standing in opposition to law enforcement and Texas families, and is paving the way to legalize marijuana, Patrick argues. Abbott has proposed regulating THC like alcohol.

Marijuana and THC products are considered Schedule 1 controlled substances by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, which “considers them to have a high likelihood of being abused and no current medical use, despite marijuana being legal in some cities and states, including for medical purposes,” WebMD explains.

In Texas, marijuana for recreational use is illegal; CBD oil, an extract of the marijuana plant, is legal for medical use. In 2015, the state legislature passed the Compassionate-Use Act, authorizing qualified physicians to prescribe low-THC cannabis (less than one percent) to patients with certain conditions. It initially only applied to patients with intractable epilepsy but was later expanded to include those diagnosed with a seizure disorder, multiple sclerosis, spasticity, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, autism, cancer, post-traumatic stress disorder and an incurable neurodegenerative disease, the State Law Library explains.

SB 5 allows Cannabidiol (CBD) or CBG, whole hemp seeds, hemp seed protein powder and hemp seed oil to continue being sold in Texas. Their sale is “currently legal today through the FDA,” Perry said at a hearing last week. However, “It is with almost 99% assuredly most of the [THC] products that are being sold off these retail shelves today through these hemp stores and other venues is illegal federally. We have court cases building by the week that support that.”

SB 5 bans the production, sale, and possession of consumable marijuana products that contain any cannabinoids other than CBD or CBG, including banning substances marketed as delta-8, delta-9, delta-10, THCA, and THC-O. Violators face criminal penalties ranging from a Class C misdemeanor for possession to a third-degree felony for manufacturing or distribution of THC.

Opponents of the ban say it will wipe out small businesses, tens of thousands of jobs and negatively impact veterans, seniors, cancer survivors and others experiencing chronic pain who use THC, The Center Square reported.

Patrick says they can legally purchase THC with a prescription from their doctor. The legislature also passed HB 46 to expand the Texas Compassionate Use Program, “the largest compassionate use program in America” to ensure they had access, he said.

The Texas House is expected to again pass the THC ban, setting up another showdown between the Republican-led legislature and Republican governor.

(The Center Square) – Following its workshop on the deceptive practices in “gender-affirming care” for minors, the Federal Trade Commission launched a public inquiry in order to learn from consumers how such care has harmed and deceived them personally.

Do No Harm Senior Fellow Dr. Jared Ross told The Center Square that “the Federal Trade Commission’s request for public comment is a great step forward in exposing ideologically motivated physicians and ending the heinous practice of so-called pediatric gender medicine.”

“This is a much-needed invitation for victims and family members to share their stories and shed light on how vulnerable children and their desperate parents have been manipulated by doctors seeking to spread their ideology and benefit financially while mutilating and sterilizing children to create lifelong medical patients,” Ross said.

Do No Harm is a group of medical professionals and more committed to “keeping identity politics out of medical education, research, and clinical practice,” according to its website.

Similar to Ross, President of the American Principles Project Terry Schilling told The Center Square that “the Trump Administration and the FTC have stepped up to the plate to protect our kids from woke gender ideology.”

“Their decision to request comments shows their commitment to ending the federal government’s support for the Gender Industrial Complex,” Schilling said. “I am confident that we will get justice for the victims of so-called ‘gender-affirming’ care.”

The American Principles Project is an organization that advocates for families.

The period to submit comments will last 60 days, according to the FTC’s news release.

In its release, the FTC said it “seeks to evaluate whether consumers (in particular, minors) have been harmed and whether medical professionals or others may have violated Sections 5 and 12 of the FTC Act by failing to disclose material risks associated with ‘gender-affirming care’ or making false or unsubstantiated claims about the benefits or effectiveness of ‘gender-affirming care.’”

Ross told The Center Square that “pediatric gender medicine uses multiple deceptive practices in selling an alleged cure to a disease that cannot be objectively measured or observed, yet requires mass participation, controlling speech and thought to ‘affirm’ a child’s delusion.”

“From promoting the idea that sex is somehow randomly ‘assigned at birth’ to the absurd and biologically incorrect concept that humans exist on a spectrum of sex, including so-called non-binary,” Ross said.

“This doctrine-driven bastardization of medicine requires us to concede that feelings prevail over objective reality, that the brain overrides the body,” Ross said.

“Gender ideology reinforces regressive stereotypes about human behavior and sexual orientation, imposing extreme body modification as the treatment for societal nonconformity,” Ross said.

Ross told The Center Square that the most harmful deception in the gender-affirming care industry is “the suicide myth.” Ross called it “the most sinister form of emotional blackmail, unprecedented elsewhere in medicine.”

“Suicidal patients not only lack the capacity to give informed consent but also need emergency psychiatric treatment, not hormones and surgery,” Ross said.

“These interventions detract from the true underlying mental health conditions that these gender-confused youth are suffering from,” Ross said. “These very treatable conditions go untreated, psychological inquiry is discarded in favor of dissociation, and medications that worsen mental health (such as estrogen and testosterone) are administered.”

In summary, Ross told The Center Square that “sex is determined at conception, then observed and recorded at (or before) birth.”

“No amount of puberty blockers, cross sex hormones, or plastic surgery can change someone’s sex,” Ross said. “Attempting to convince susceptible children otherwise is deceptive and scandalous.”

As The Center Square previously reported, the FTC held a workshop that concerned the dangers and deception of gender-affirming care for minors in early July.

Doctors, medical ethicists, whistleblowers, detransitioners, and parents of detransitioners gathered at the workshop, many of whom said that practices in gender-affirming care for minors “are misleading to consumers and are ‘one of the greatest frauds’ committed against the American people.”

The FTC has not yet responded to The Center Square’s request for comment.