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 Fox News 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 UNIVERSITYIntersex-inclusive Pride Progress flag alongside a Transgender Pride flag on Jun.
10, 2024, in London, United Kingdom.The flag includes rainbow stripes representing LGBTQ+ communities, along with colors from the Transgender Pride Flag and colors representing people of color.
(Mike Kemp/In Pictures via Getty Images))"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 Min...