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Top public university’s ‘LGBTQ+ lab’ hit with race-bias complaint amid $700K in Trump-era federal funding
FIRST ON FOX: A University of Maryland research lab that received nearly $700,000 in additional federal funding from the Trump administration this year is facing a civil rights complaint alleging that it uses race and ethnicity to determine access to some research-related opportunities.
The Equal Protection Project (EPP) filed the complaint with the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights against UMD’s Lavender Lab, a National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded lab that studies suicide, substance use and other health outcomes among LGBTQ+ people and Black, Indigenous and People of Color.
EPP is asking HHS to investigate whether the lab’s LGBTQ+ Teens of Color Advisory Board and its research assistant selection practices give priority to non-White applicants.
«Some people may ask what is wrong with prioritizing non-whites in a program which is designed to study non-whites,» EPP founder William Jacobson told Digital. «When you receive federal funding, you cannot discriminate in the administration of your programs.»
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT LAUNCHES TITLE VI INVESTIGATION INTO DEI PROGRAMS AT ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY
«You do not need to have an advisory board, you do not need to hire research assistants based on race to fulfill the purposes of this grant,» Jacobson continued.
The complaint comes as the Lavender Lab continues receiving millions of dollars through the NIH for research examining alcohol and drug use among «sexual minority adolescents of color.»
One of the lab’s principal projects, titled «Long-Term and Daily Associations Among Intersectional Minority Stress, Structural Oppression, and Alcohol Use and Misuse Among Sexual Minority Adolescents of Color,» began in May 2022 and is scheduled to run through April 2027. The complaint cites approximately $3.6 million in total federal obligations and roughly $2.2 million in outlays at the time of its filing.
NIH records cited in the complaint show the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism provided another $695,192 for the project for fiscal year 2026.
The complaint points first to the lab’s LGBTQ+ Teens of Color Advisory Board, which said it was «specifically looking for teens in the US who identify as both LGBTQ+ and Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) to join our board» in an Instagram post.
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According to the complaint, board members are paid to help review research, provide feedback and participate in professional-development activities, with some also receiving leadership opportunities.
EPP also targeted the Lavender Lab’s research-assistant program, which offers positions to undergraduate and master’s-level students.
Although the positions are generally unpaid, the complaint stated that undergraduate research assistants may receive academic course credit, and some students may be able to participate through federal work-study. Research assistants generally commit to at least two semesters and a minimum of eight hours per week.
The lab stated it «especially encourage[s] and invite[s] candidates from traditionally marginalized backgrounds» to apply and that applicants with experience conducting research involving «LGBTQ and BIPOC communities» through «cultural humility, intersectionality, and social justice approaches» will receive the «strongest consideration.»
«Discrimination based on race or ethnicity at institutions receiving federal funding is unlawful regardless of which group is targeted or benefits,» Jacobson said. «Treating individuals as avatars of their demographic identity rather than as individuals with unique merits and circumstances undermines fairness, merit, social cohesion, and the rule of law.»
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EPP alleges that the language indicates race or ethnicity may play a role in the selection process. The complaint asks HHS to investigate whether the practices violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color or national origin in federally funded programs, as well as the Affordable Care Act.
«Because the Lavender Lab is operating under an HHS health care related grant, the non-discrimination provisions of the Affordable Care Act must be adhered to, and HHS has authority to enforce those provisions,» Jacobson said.
EPP’s complaint also questions federal funding for research focused on intersectionality, which the Lavender Lab says guides its work. The lab studies how sexual-minority status, race, ethnicity and what it calls «structural oppression» affect health outcomes.
«The conduct at the Lavender Lab calls into question whether HHS should be funding intersectionality-focused research at all,» Jacobson said. «Intersectionality is a race- and ethnicity-focused group-identity approach. It is no surprise that where the focus is racial identity that programming could cross the line into civil rights violations.»
Jacobson said EPP has found federal dollars going to programs that use intersectionality and is calling for tighter rules on that funding.
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«We have identified hundreds of millions of dollars of federal funding for programs that incorporate intersectionality,» Jacobson said. «Given the civil rights danger from an ‘intersectional’ approach, we call on the administration to issue a new executive order and agency guidance closing the ‘intersectionality loophole’ by including intersectionality in the ban on unlawful discriminatory DEI practices in federal grantmaking.»
Digital reached out to the University of Maryland, HHS and the White House for comment.
health, medical research, controversies education, campus controversy, diversity, woke
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Riot-torn France struggles with chaos at home as Macron eyes military mission thousands of miles away
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French President Emmanuel Macron is pushing ahead with plans for a new European military presence in Lebanon while struggling with mounting political and economic turmoil at home, even as the initiative encounters resistance from a key European partner and Washington considers an alternative that may not require troops.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed that he had discussed the future of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) with Macron, suggesting that a replacement monitoring mechanism could be civilian rather than military.
«It doesn’t have to be a military mission. It could be a civilian mission,» Rubio said in remarks published Tuesday.
Rubio explained that the administration is seeking a credible mechanism to verify arrangements under which Israeli forces withdraw from designated areas, the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) assume control and the Iran-backed terrorist group Hezbollah is prevented from returning.
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Soldiers from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon UNIFIL attend a ceremony marking the International Day of UN Peacekeepers in Naqoura, Lebanon, May 29, 2025. (Ali Hashisho/Xinhua via Getty Images)
He suggested France could play a constructive role but emphasized that any arrangement would require agreement from both Lebanon and Israel.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz also made clear that Washington has no intention of preserving the existing peacekeeping mission.
«UNIFIL in its current form will not continue, and it must not continue — we are working with our international partners to draw down the mission and ensure that the Lebanese people can choose their own future and to ensure that the Lebanese Armed Forces can secure the nation’s future,» Waltz told Fox News Digital.
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French President Emmanuel Macron reviews the troops during his visit to the nuclear submarine navy base of Ile Longue in Crozon, France, March 2, 2026 (Yoan Valat /Pool via Reuters)
The French initiative, meanwhile, envisions a multinational force potentially involving thousands of European troops to support the Lebanese army as UNIFIL prepares to end its nearly five-decade mission. The proposed force’s final size, mandate and participating countries remain unconfirmed.
However, Italy, which previously joined France in calling for an international coalition following UNIFIL’s withdrawal, does not support deploying its troops under the proposal currently advanced by Paris, three sources with knowledge of the discussions told Fox News Digital.
The initiative comes as Macron faces growing domestic pressure, with France experiencing widespread demonstrations over rising living costs, wages and deteriorating public services.
The unrest has further complicated the government’s efforts to pass its 2027 budget, as mounting debt and political divisions limit its room to maneuver, Reuters reported Nov. 5.
Against that backdrop, France’s proposed deployment raises questions about the financial and military resources Paris could commit to another overseas mission, particularly without firm support from its European partners.
Simone Rodan-Benzaquen, senior envoy for Europe at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, argued that replacing UNIFIL with another international military force risks repeating the shortcomings of the existing mission.
«UNIFIL’s mandate should end as scheduled. Hezbollah built up its military presence in southern Lebanon with international peacekeepers already on the ground. Keeping troops there under a new mandate would repeat an approach that failed to prevent that buildup. The basis for what comes next should be the U.S.-brokered agreement Israel and Lebanon reached in June. France can help both sides put it into practice and move further,» Rodan-Benzaquen told Fox News Digital.
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US Secretary of State Marco Rubio sits with France’s Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Noël Barrot during the G7 foreign ministers summit at the Quai d’Orsay in Paris to discuss support for Ukraine and stabilization efforts in the Middle East. Nov. 9, 2026. (Christophe Petit Tesson / POOL / AFP via Getty Images)
The question of who would conduct such inspections has already proved contentious.
The United States and Israel had previously opposed France serving as a third-party verifier of Hezbollah’s disarmament, according to an Aug. 7 Reuters report citing Lebanese officials and foreign diplomats. A Lebanese official also told Reuters that Beirut had rejected an earlier proposal involving private security companies.
The challenges extend beyond diplomatic disagreements.
According to a Congressional Research Service assessment updated November 9, Hezbollah continues to refuse disarmament while Israeli forces maintain positions in southern Lebanon.
IS THE IRAN-BACKED TERRORIST MOVEMENT HEZBOLLAH ON THE ROPES IN LEBANON?
A protester holds a rock to throw at police as a kiosk burns during a demonstration near Place de la République, as the Gilets Jaunes join students for a weekend of action on October 17, 2026, in Paris, France. (Carl Court/Getty Images)
A U.S.-brokered framework agreement reached in June linked a phased Israeli withdrawal to the verified disarmament of armed groups and the deployment of Lebanese forces. But implementation has stalled beyond the initial pilot areas, and negotiations in October ended without agreement.
Rather than committing additional troops, Rodan-Benzaquen argued that Paris should focus on using its diplomatic influence to strengthen the Lebanese government’s efforts to disarm Hezbollah.
«France’s greatest leverage is notably in Beirut. The Lebanese cabinet has already outlawed Hezbollah’s military activity. Paris should work with the Lebanese government to press disarming Hezbollah. Israel needs credible evidence that Hezbollah cannot return to an area its troops are eventually leaving. Beirut needs confidence that once its army secures that area, the agreed Israeli withdrawal will eventually follow. That is where French diplomacy can make a difference.»
The debate follows the August 2025 Security Council resolution extending UNIFIL’s mandate for a final time, until December 31, 2026, with an orderly withdrawal authorized over the following year.
Washington backed terminating the mission amid longstanding concerns about its inability to prevent Hezbollah from maintaining a military presence in southern Lebanon. France, by contrast, has warned against leaving a security vacuum.
PENTAGON HOSTS FIRST-EVER ISRAELI–LEBANESE MILITARY TALKS AIMED AT CURBING HEZBOLLAH
United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) vehicles drive along the main road leading to Lebanon’s southern town of Naqura close to the border with Israel on October 27, 2022. (Photo by Mahmoud Zayyat/ AFP/Getty Images)
In a previous Security Council statement, the French Mission to the U.N. said: «France will support UNIFIL until the expiration of its mandate. It will contribute to defining the future international engagement in Lebanon, in support of its sovereignty and the implementation of resolution 1701.»
U.N. spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric told Fox News Digital that Secretary-General António Guterres presented three options for a future U.N. presence in June, but the Security Council has not formally selected one.
He added that the U.N. is aware of discussions about a possible non-U.N. military presence in southern Lebanon but is not directly involved in those negotiations.
With UNIFIL’s mandate approaching expiration, France faces the challenge of securing agreement not only on which countries would contribute personnel, but also on what those forces would be authorized to do in a country where Hezbollah remains armed and Israeli troops have yet to fully withdraw.
A member of the Spanish UNIFIL peacekeeper forces stands in front of the rubble of destroyed buildings during a patrol in the southern Lebanese village of Borj El Mlouk, near the border with Israel, on January 7, 2025. (ANWAR AMRO/AFP via Getty Images)
The Italian government has not responded to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. Requests for comment were also sent to the State Department, Spanish and Lebanese authorities.
france, emmanuel macron, united nations, lebanon, peacekeeping
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is quietly working towards a new goal: to become a progressive kingmaker in the burgeoning battle for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination.
The socialist mayor of the nation’s most populous city, who can’t run for president himself because he’s not a natural-born U.S. citizen, has been meeting behind closed doors with labor leaders to highlight the need for a union-aligned or left-wing candidate to seek the presidency.
The mayor’s moves come as he’s reportedly said he’s uncertain whether progressive champion Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, his close political ally, will run for the White House.
According to Axios, which was first to report the news, Mamdani is concerned that if Ocasio-Cortez stays out of the 2028 race, it could leave progressives without a standard-bearer to face off against a more centrist presidential front-runner in the primary battle.
WILL TRUMP SIT OUT MAKING A 2028 ENDORSEMENT IN THE RACE TO SUCCEED HIM?
Mamdani, who is seen as a major powerbroker for the left-wing of the Democratic Party after his historic 2025 mayoral election victory, argues that the progressive movement can’t waste their momentum coming out of last week’s trouncing of Republicans in the midterm elections, as Democrats won a massive House majority and control of the Senate.
A source familiar with Mamdani’s 2028 conversations told Axios the mayor «wants the progressive ecosystem to mobilize quickly, strategically and efficiently if a moderate candidate is clearly on the rise,»
Meanwhile, Ocasio-Cortez is publicly pumping the brakes on speculation she’ll launch a presidential campaign or bid for the Senate in New York, even as a newly formed group of activists is urging her run for the White House.
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«I think the thing that’s important here is the last thing that people want to hear from me or any other politician here is about the next election. And what they actually want to hear from us is about what we are going to do with the electoral results they just gave us on Tuesday,’ Ocasio-Cortez told reporters Monday night, as she pointed to the Democrats’ trouncing of Republicans in the midterms, as the party won a massive House majority and control of the Senate.
The comments from Ocasio-Cortez, who was re-elected last week to a fifth term representing parts of New York City, came hours after the formal launch of Ready for AOC, a political group working to encourage her to run for president by showing her she has legions of supporters ready to mobilize on her behalf.
«A people-powered movement asking Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to run for President in 2028. No campaign. No money. Just names,» is how the group described itself on social media.
But Ocasio-Cortez said that voters are more concerned about congressional Democrats’ immediate legislative agenda rather than speculating about the next election.
«I think people are less concerned about the horse race, and they want to know: What are the investigations we’re going to be starting? What is the legislation that we’re going to be starting?» she said.
Veteran Democratic strategist David Plouffe, campaign manager for former President Barack Obama’s landmark 2008 White House victory and a senior adviser on then-Vice President Kamala Harris’ 2024 bid, said last week, «If AOC runs, she’s going to start, 20-25%, probably. The question is, can she add to that? If she doesn’t run, then that is wide open. That’s where I think someone like Abdul may say ‘even though I just won, should I look at it?’»
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Plouffe, who was speaking at a forum hosted by Harvard University’s Institute of Politics, was referring to Democratic Sen.-elect Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan, who made history last week as the first Muslim elected to the U.S. Senate.
«That’s the thing about this race. It’s so wide open that there may be some people run who surprise us. I also think they’ll be some people who don’t run who’ll surprise us,» Plouffe added.
Ocasio-Cortez said in September that she’s weighing what to do next, whether it be a White House run or a bid for the seat currently held by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a fellow Democrat and New Yorker.
«I know there is a lot of speculation about what I will decide to do in 2028. I get asked about it nearly every interview and event,» Ocasio-Cortez wrote in a fundraising email to supporters.
The now-37-year-old lawmaker with a massive social media footprint said in a New York Times interview two months ago that her decision, which could happen sometime after the midterm elections, would come down to answering the question, «Where can I do the most good?»
Schumer, who turns 76 later this month, has left his 2028 plans open and has not announced whether he’ll run for sixth six-year term in the Senate.
Ocasio-Cortez isn’t the only leading figure on the left who is mulling a presidential run. So is Rep. Ro Khanna of California, a top House progressive.
Allies of the soon-to-be six-term congressman last week launched a draft committee called «Run Ro» to build support and raise funds for a potential 2028 presidential campaign.
politics, zohran mamdani, alexandria ocasio cortez, abdul el sayed, chuck schumer, democrats elections, presidential primaries
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Escándalo en Nvidia: el romance de su CEO con una presunta espía habría facilitado la venta de chips a China por US$7500 millones
El escándalo que involucra al director ejecutivo de Nvidia, Jensen Huang, y una empresaria señalada como presunta espía del Gobierno chino sumó una nueva revelación. Según una investigación publicada este martes, la relación entre ambos habría facilitado el envío de chips de inteligencia artificial por al menos US$7500 millones a empresas chinas, mediante una red de sociedades que operaban en distintos países de Asia.
La información fue difundida por el medio especializado The Information y reproducida por la agencia Reuters. El informe, basado en testimonios de dos personas que conocen a Alice Huang, sostiene que la empresaria habría aprovechado sus vínculos con el máximo responsable de Nvidia y con distribuidores de la compañía para obtener procesadores avanzados, algunos de ellos sujetos a restricciones comerciales impuestas por Estados Unidos.
De acuerdo con la investigación, unas 240.000 unidades de los modelos H100, H200 y A100 habrían llegado a China mediante estas operaciones. Reuters aclaró que no pudo verificar de manera independiente los resultados del informe.
Según The Information, Alice Huang, junto con su marido y su hermana, construyó una estructura empresarial con sociedades registradas en China y Singapur para adquirir procesadores de Nvidia.
China
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