Top public university's 'LGBTQ+ lab' hit with race-bias complaint amid $700K in Trump-era federal funding

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."

"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.

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.

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."

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.

Fox News Digital reached out to the University of Maryland, HHS and the White House for comment.