My comment in full is below. I did not read the entire Proposed Rule because I could feel my blood pressure rising into a rage after the first few paragraphs, but you are welcome to copy/paste and use this if you change it a bit to be more relevant to yourself.
(Please for the love of god put in a comment of some kind.)
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I am an American citizen and I REJECT this proposed rule in the strongest possible terms.
The Proposed Rule is not presented in neutral terms. It is full of fearmongering, baseless accusations, blatant misinformation, and misrepresentation of both reality and the wishes of actual citizens, including me. It claims that it would improve efficiency and keep tax dollars from being misused, but this is false. The current Administration has overseen DOGE, the largest waste of American tax dollars in history, and even more recently, spent 13 million dollars on painting the Reflecting Pool of the National Mall blue. I have little faith in their budgeting priorities. It likewise claims that the majority of Americans do not believe in a "woke" agenda. Since it is never actually stated what that means, it is impossible to counter with facts, but as we see in every national election, the number of voters who desire progressive policies is about equal to those who don't, varying by issue. Gay marriage, legalized in America in 2005 (after many other countries), has a 65% approval rating in America as of May 2026 (Gallup polls). Protection from discrimination for transgender people has an approval rating of 56%.
Aside from being blatantly un-Constitutional, this Proposed Rule is ethically, morally, and spiritually wrong. The Federal government has never possessed the right to mandate that valuable social services discriminate against the citizens they are ostensibly bound to help. The distrust that this rule would engender in all those organizations that either willingly comply or are forced to because they cannot risk losing funding would destroy America's internal stability and credibility. What are you thinking? Do you imagine that it will not affect you, because you don't think you know any trans people? That's not how this works.
You'll see it in the lack of community. Trans people are just like you. They are working in factories and shops. They are soldiers, teachers, firefighters and police, politicians and farmers and artists. This Proposed Rule tells them: You don't matter. When people can't trust each other anymore, why should they be proud of a country that forces them to deny their neighbors what they need unless they adhere to a certain ideology? That is what this rule would do. You have no right.
Since I am a researcher, I want to mention something else in the proposed rule: the ability to pull funding from researcher projects whenever you want, for whatever reason, if they don't fit your agenda. We aren't researching because we have a political agenda. We are looking for knowledge. If you let us find it, we can make you stronger, but I for one am not pouring years of labor into something that might get canceled at the last second. You want brain drain? This is how you get it. Hardworking researchers who can't count on the government to keep multi-year projects funded will not stay here. The EU, Canada, and other countries have many good opportunities for stable research funding. Maybe even China, who knows?
In summary, this proposed rule is not only a cruelty to people who are no threat to you, and never have been; it is an embarrassment to America.
