The USDA, apparently acting under DOGE, has cancelled a $600,000 research grant that it claims was awarded to a research study on the menstrual cycles in transgender men. In reality, the team was researching the development of safe menstrual products and had only acknowledged—in passing, in a single sentence—that trans men may also menstruate.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced the cancelled grant on X/Twitter last Friday. “$600,000 grant to study ‘menstrual cycles in transgender men,’” she wrote. “Keep sending us tips. THANK YOU, [American Principles Project]! The insanity is ending and the restoration of America is underway.”
The grant had been made to Southern University in Louisiana, and it had evidently been flagged by right wing think tank American Principles Project. However, there is no evidence that the research project ever involved transgender men.
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The study was actually looking into the dangers of synthetic menstruation products and researching safe alternatives. The project was prompted by an earlier finding demonstrating how most synthetic tampon products contain deadly heavy metals, including arsenic and lead.
“They’re unsafe for women and girls to wear and then also it’s unsafe for our environment because as we know those synthetic materials take so long to break down,” Dr Samii Kennedy Benson told CBS affiliate WAFB back in July. Instead, the study’s goal was to develop tampons from natural fibers like cotton, wool and hemp and to educate the public on menstrual health.
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She was charged with “spreading hate speech against Christianity.”
While the vast majority of the project description on the USDA website refers to menstruation in cisgender women and girls, a single sentence references queer identities. “It is also important to recognize that transgender men and people with masculine gender identities, intersex and non-binary persons may also menstruate,” the description reads.
The reference occurs within introductory sentences demonstrating how common menstruation is, with the next sentence reading: “At any given moment about 26% of the world’s population is menstruating.”
Beyond this single reference, there is no evidence trans, intersex and nonbinary individuals were ever involved with, let alone the focus of, any research. However, when CBS News reached out the USDA for comment, they claimed the project “prioritized women identifying as men who might menstruate.”
“This mission certainly does not align with the priorities and policies of the current administration, which maintains that there are two sexes: male and female,” the statement went on.
DOGE has now claimed responsibility for the grant cancellation, adding it to its “wall of receipts” purporting to showcase wasteful government spending the agency has disrupted. Several news outlets have catalogued multiple mischaracterizations or outright errors on the wall of receipts.
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