NIH to End LGBTQ & DEI Grant Renewals in 2026

By Paul Goldberg, Senior Editor | JRL CHARTS — LGBT Politics News

WASHINGTON, D.C — (January 3, 2026) — The future of federally funded LGBTQ health and equity research was thrown into crisis this week after National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Jay Bhattacharya confirmed that Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)–related grants — including those supporting LGBTQ+ health, gender identity, and minority populations — will not be renewed when they expire in 2026, even if they were temporarily restored by court order.

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The announcement marks a sweeping reversal in federal science policy under the Trump administration’s new health-research framework, which has reclassified DEI-focused research as outside the NIH’s core mission.

According to Bhattacharya, while federal courts have forced the NIH to reinstate hundreds of terminated grants for procedural review, those reinstatements are temporary only. When the current funding cycles end, the agency will allow the grants to expire — permanently.

“These grants do not align with the new NIH priorities,” Bhattacharya said, adding that the agency is now focused on “core biomedical outcomes” rather than identity-based or structural-inequality research.

That shift directly impacts hundreds of projects involving:

LGBTQ+ health disparities
Transgender medical access
HIV prevention in queer communities
Mental-health outcomes for marginalized groups
Racial and gender-equity science

Many of these programs were previously terminated in 2025, then temporarily reinstated by federal courts after researchers sued the government for unlawful political interference.

But Bhattacharya’s statement makes one thing clear:
Even if the courts force the money back now, the NIH will pull it again in 2026.

Why the Courts Can’t Save These Grants

Federal judges ordered NIH to restore DEI and LGBTQ-related funding while lawsuits play out, arguing that the agency had illegally canceled grants without proper review.

However, the rulings do not require the NIH to renew them when their funding terms end.

That loophole allows the Trump administration to:

Technically comply with court orders
Let grants run out
Then refuse to renew them

Result: the programs die anyway.

Legal experts now warn that 2026 becomes the true cutoff, regardless of what happens in court in the meantime.

Why NIH Says LGBTQ & DEI Research Is Being Cut

Under Trump-era health policy, NIH leadership now argues that:

DEI research is “political”
Health disparities are “sociological”
Identity-based medicine is “not biomedical”

In internal policy memos and scientific reviews, the agency has taken the position that:

“DEI-focused grants do not advance core health outcomes and therefore fall outside NIH priorities.”

This effectively reclassifies LGBTQ health research as optional — not essential.

What This Means for LGBTQ America

For LGBTQ communities, the impact is enormous.

Without NIH funding:

Transgender health studies disappear
HIV prevention science slows
Suicide-prevention programs for queer youth collapse
Minority health disparities go untracked
Public-health data becomes blind to LGBTQ lives

Universities, hospitals, and clinics rely on NIH grants as the backbone of American medical science. Losing them means entire research fields may vanish.

And because NIH is the world’s largest funder of medical research, the global ripple effect will be severe.

The 2026 Political Time Bomb

Bhattacharya’s announcement creates a two-year fuse:

The money flows for now.
The research continues for now.
The court orders hold for now.

But in 2026, the grants die — unless a new administration reverses course.

That makes LGBTQ science a 2026 election-cycle issue, not just a legal one.

Footnotes & Research Sources

NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya — public statements on grant renewal policy
Federal court rulings ordering temporary reinstatement of DEI and LGBTQ grants
Trump administration executive orders on DEI programs
Reporting by STAT, Nature, and The Hill on NIH funding reversals
NIH internal policy guidance on “core biomedical research” definitions

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