Federal Judge Orders Trump Administration to Restore Removed LGBTQ Health Research

A federal judge ruled that the Trump administration must restore medical research articles removed from the Patient Safety Network, a government website, because they contained references to transgender and LGBTQ+ individuals. The articles, authored by two Harvard Medical School professors, were taken down following an executive order from President Trump banning government entities from promoting 'gender ideology.' Judge Leo Sorokin found the removal to be viewpoint discrimination violating the First Amendment, emphasizing that the articles represented the authors' speech, not government speech. The administration had used broad word searches to remove content without notifying the authors, who refused to alter their work to comply with the administration's demands. The judge ordered the immediate restoration of the removed articles and all other similar content taken down under the executive order, calling the censorship a "flagrant violation" of free speech rights. The decision was hailed by the American Civil Liberties Union as a victory for free speech and public health.