Three major American civil rights organizations filed a lawsuit Wednesday in Washington, D.C., against the Trump administration, challenging executive orders that gut diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and erase federal recognition of transgender and nonbinary people. The lawsuit, National Urban League v. Trump, alleges that these orders violate constitutional protections and pose an existential threat to marginalized communities.
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The National Urban League, the National Fair Housing Alliance, and AIDS Foundation Chicago are leading the legal challenge, represented by the Legal Defense Fund and Lambda Legal. The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, argues that the executive orders violate the First and Fifth Amendments, restrict free speech, and disproportionately harm Black people, LGBTQ+ people, and other vulnerable populations.
Related: What can trans people do about Trump’s executive orders? Be plaintiffs, says Lambda Legal
The complaint challenges three executive orders: “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing,” which eliminates diversity-based hiring initiatives; “Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions,” which cuts funding for organizations addressing racial inequities; and “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” which strips federal recognition of transgender identities.
The National Urban League emphasized that its workforce development programs—many federally funded—are being unjustly targeted. “These executive orders are malicious, unlawful, unconstitutional, and are a direct assault on 70 years of progress that this nation has made,” said Marc Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League. “These executive orders challenge and seek to thwart and undermine our ability to do the work that is essential to our mission and protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution.”
Kevin Jennings, CEO of Lambda Legal, underscored the urgency of the legal challenge for LGBTQ+ people. “We have already filed two lawsuits against the Trump administration—one challenging the ban on trans people serving in our military and another restricting health care access for trans people under the age of 19. We have already scored our first victory after a judge blocked the implementation of this executive order with a nationwide temporary restraining order,” Jennings said in a Wednesday afternoon press conference.
Related: HRC & Lambda Legal announce lawsuit to block Trump’s renewed moves to ban transgender military service
Last week, a federal judge stopped a Trump executive order that stripped transgender minors of care.
Lambda Legal, which specializes in LGBTQ+ rights, pointed to the erasure of transgender identities in federal policy. “The executive orders issued by this administration, including the anti-DEI and so-called gender ideology orders, will do so much damage to so many of our communities,” HIV project director at Lambda Legal Jose Abrigo said.” These orders will defund programs that address systemic health disparities and provide critical services, directly punishing organizations that serve communities of color, LGBTQ people, and communities most affected by HIV.”
AIDS Foundation Chicago highlighted the devastating impact on HIV services. “Because HIV disproportionately impacts Black men, Latino men, transgender women, and Black women, we must be able to prioritize these populations in our work through outreach and engagement initiatives, staff training, and allocation of resources, “John Peller, president and CEO of AFC, said. “These executive orders jeopardize the decades of progress we have made toward ending the HIV epidemic through culturally competent care and the pursuit of health equity.”
The complaint details the immediate financial harm caused by the executive orders. AFC, which receives more than 83 percent of its total budget—amounting to $34.8 million annually—from federal funding, faced an immediate administrative freeze on funds. The complaint states that on January 28, AFC could not draw down federal grant funds to continue providing housing and case management services. “The lack of clear guidance from federal agencies has created confusion, fear, and instability among service providers, funders, and community partners,” the lawsuit states.
Jennings warned that the executive orders could have deadly consequences. “People will die if these executive orders are enforced,” Jennings said. “Stripping funding from programs that address health disparities and support marginalized communities means denying life-saving care to those who need it most. Without preventative care and access to treatment, we will see higher rates of HIV transmission, more cases of HIV progressing to AIDS, and, ultimately, more deaths. We refuse to stand by and let that happen.”
Fair housing protections are also at risk, according to the National Fair Housing Alliance. “The Trump administration is falsely claiming that diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility are incompatible with merit, hard work, and standards of excellence. National Fair Housing Alliance president and CEO Lisa Rice told reporters, “Nothing could be further from the truth. “Diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility are a cornerstone of our Constitution and our nation’s civil rights laws. They are designed to ensure entities comply with our nation’s laws and that marginalized people and communities have access to the opportunities that they deserve.”
The lawsuit contends that these executive orders unlawfully restrict free speech by forbidding discussions on systemic discrimination. It also argues that the policies discriminate against people of color, women, and trans and nonbinary people in violation of the Fifth Amendment’s equal protection clause.
“These executive orders present a historical and counterfactual narrative about diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility and are using the power of the federal government to impose this false and dangerous viewpoint on our clients or threaten cutting off critical federal funds that they need to do their mission-driven work,” Jin Hee Lee, director of strategic initiatives at LDF, explained. “We have filed this lawsuit and are very hopeful that the federal court assigned to our case will look at these facts, actual facts, and the law and bring justice to our clients so that they can continue to do the very important and critical work that they have been doing for decades.”
Jennings was confident in the success of the suit. “You might ask, why am I so confident we’re going to win?” he asked. “During the first Trump administration, we sued the Trump administration 14 times, and we won 12 of those cases. That’s an 86% win rate. So, President Trump, we will see you in court again, and we will beat you again.”
