(WASHINGTON) — Several LGBTQ rights organizations sued the Trump administration on Thursday, alleging that the president’s executive orders aimed at dismantling diversity and equity programs are unconstitutional and will cripple critical programs used by Americans.
The lawsuit, filed by civil rights groups the Legal Defense Fund and Lambda Legal on behalf of several nonprofits, is one of dozens filed against the new administration one month into office. All of the plaintiffs receive federal funding to support their work.
They challenge three executive orders signed by President Donald Trump that call for an end to government funding tied to diversity, equity and inclusion programs and what the administration calls “gender ideology.”
“The government is attempting to erase a very specific group of people. Transgender and non-binary folks in our country are being singled out as individuals who are being told that they don’t exist,” Tyler TerMeer, one of the plaintiffs and CEO of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, told ABC News in an interview Thursday. “So this moment is us going to the courts and saying, ‘We won’t be silenced.'”
In the complaint, the nonprofits claim that the executive orders are a violation of their Fifth Amendment rights under the U.S. Constitution that “[n]o person shall … be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.”
Among the plaintiffs is the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, which helps communities affected by HIV. The group expected to receive more than $641,000 in federal funds this budget year, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit lists as defendants the Departments of Justice, Labor, Housing and Health, along with several administration officials.
“The executive orders, in essence, require our organizations or non-governmental entities to certify that they don’t engage in DEI work or engage in what they call radical gender ideology in any of their work,” Jose Abrigo, senior attorney at Lambda Legal, told ABC News in an interview Thursday.
“So, this case particularly is really important … it prevents the government from forcing their viewpoint on essentially private nonprofits who are serving the community for good.”
The GLBT Historical Society, another plaintiff in the suit, operates a museum of LGBTQ+ history and culture in San Francisco — the first of its kind in the U.S. The organization receives at least $130,000 in federal funding and would not be able to advance public knowledge without it, it alleged in the suit.
The Legal Defense Fund and Lambda Legal also filed a lawsuit on Wednesday on behalf of the National Urban League, the National Fair Housing Alliance and the AIDS Foundation of Chicago, alleging that the administration is violating the organizations’ rights to free speech and due process and is engaging in intentional discrimination by issuing and enforcing the orders, according to Lambda Legal.
The White House did not immediately return ABC News’ request for a statement and the DOJ declined to comment on either suit.
ABC News Contributors Sabina Ghebremedhin, Anne Flaherty, Molly Nagle and Alex Mallin contributed to this report.
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