January 1, Taxpayer Dollars Fund Biology’s Inclusive Turn: Binary Sex Under Fire

The National Science Foundation, a federal agency responsible for promoting scientific progress and securing national defense, is allocating nearly a million dollars of taxpayer money to an initiative aimed at making biology “inclusive” by refuting the binary nature of sex and gender.

This funding, amounting to $905,694, is being granted to three academic institutions: the University of Minnesota, Colorado State University, and Florida International University. The basis for this grant is the assertion that “biology courses often inaccurately categorize sex and gender as binary.” The study, titled “Collaborative Research: A qualitative inquiry into sex/gender narratives in undergraduate biology and their impacts on transgender, non-binary, and gender non-conforming students,” aims to make undergraduate biology classes more inclusive for transgender students by challenging the binary concept of sex.

This initiative, funded by taxpayer dollars, is part of a broader push by the Biden administration to use the federal bureaucracy to advance far-left ideologies. Large grants are being funneled towards efforts to instill these extreme ideologies in America’s institutions. The National Science Foundation has declared the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) agenda a “high priority” and proudly states that it has several identity-based employee resource groups, including one for “LGBTQ+ and Allies.”

The award abstract for the study states, “The oversimplification of sex and gender into binary categories can make biology classrooms particularly challenging for TNG students.” It further suggests that “early data suggest that how sex and gender topics are represented in the biology curriculum impacts TNG students’ sense of belonging and interest in biology.”

When asked by The Daily Wire whether the National Science Foundation believes there are more than two genders, a spokesperson for the federal agency avoided a direct answer. Instead, they emphasized the agency’s financial support for the effort to challenge the binary nature of sex, stating, “There is a strong theoretical foundation on which the research questions are based.”

The spokesperson further defended the initiative by stating that it was “identified as having intellectual merit and broader impacts because the proposers made a strong case to the peer reviewers.”

The study aims to investigate “how a more accurate curriculum about the diversity of sexes found across species, the role of the environment in sex determination, and the complex relationship between sex and gender can create a more inclusive environment for transgender, non-binary, and gender non-conforming (TNG) students in undergraduate biology courses.”

Three main objectives have been outlined for the government-backed study. These include exploring how sex and gender are currently represented in undergraduate biology content, describing the impact this content has on classroom climate and belonging for TNG students, and characterizing the current efforts of biology instructors to create a more inclusive climate for TNG students.

The initiative also aims to “support the design of interventions and curriculum inclusive of both TNG and intersex students” and purports to “help all biology students develop inclusive and scientifically accurate understandings of sex and gender.”

Data for the study will be collected through interviews with students and professors and will be analyzed using “[f]eminist phenomenology, qualitative content analysis, and document analysis.”

This is not the first instance of the federal government using taxpayer dollars to promote radical gender ideology and the diversity, equity, and inclusion agenda. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), for example, allocated just under $700k in taxpayer funds to an organization for the development of transgender-inclusive sex education programs for children as young as 14 years old.

Despite the Biden administration’s reliance on a mere two pages of literature to support so-called “gender-affirming care,” a growing number of studies have found that such medical interventions do not benefit patients. Under President Biden, various federal agencies have aggressively pushed ideological initiatives, with the president signing multiple executive orders intended to use the federal government to advance leftwing beliefs on race and the diversity, equity, and inclusion agenda.

Former Trump administration officials, including former President Trump himself, have advocated for plans to dismantle the administrative state under the next administration, intending to reign in and fire unelected bureaucrats who may obstruct the president’s objectives.

Why It Matters (op-ed)

The Biden administration’s decision to pour nearly a million dollars into studies aimed at denying the binary nature of sex and gender is a blatant attempt to advance far-left ideologies using taxpayer money. This is yet another example of the administration’s push to force extreme ideologies into America’s institutions, with the National Science Foundation proudly declaring the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) agenda as a “high priority.”

This initiative not only undermines scientific integrity but also poses a threat to the values that have sustained our society for centuries. The fact that the spokesperson for the National Science Foundation avoided a direct answer when asked about the existence of more than two genders speaks volumes about the agency’s true intentions. Our nation’s hard-earned taxpayer dollars should not be used to fund radical gender ideology and further divide our society.

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