A civil rights complaint filed with the Department of Health and Human Services alleges that a University of Maryland research lab receiving millions in federal funding discriminates on the basis of race and ethnicity in the administration of its programs. The Equal Protection Project, a legal advocacy group, submitted the complaint against the university's Lavender Lab, an NIH-funded research center that studies suicide, substance use, and other health outcomes among LGBTQ+ people and Black, Indigenous, and People of Color.
The complaint, filed with the HHS Office for Civil Rights, asks the agency to investigate whether the lab's LGBTQ+ Teens of Color Advisory Board and its research assistant selection practices give priority to non-White applicants. The Equal Protection Project argues that such 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 non-discrimination provisions of the Affordable Care Act.
According to the complaint, the lab's advisory board posted on Instagram that 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.» Board members are paid to help review research, provide feedback, and participate in professional development activities, with some receiving leadership opportunities. The complaint also targets the lab's research assistant program, which offers positions to undergraduate and master's-level students. Although generally unpaid, the positions may provide academic course credit or federal work-study eligibility. 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.»
William Jacobson, founder of the Equal Protection Project, told Fox News Digital that federal funding comes with strict non-discrimination obligations. «When you receive federal funding, you cannot discriminate in the administration of your programs,» Jacobson said. «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.» He added that «discrimination based on race or ethnicity at institutions receiving federal funding is unlawful regardless of which group is targeted or benefits.»
The Lavender Lab has received substantial federal support through the National Institutes of Health. One of its 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 filing. NIH records show the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism provided an additional $695,192 for the project for fiscal year 2026.
The complaint also questions whether HHS should fund research focused on intersectionality, which the 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 the Equal Protection Project has identified hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding for programs that incorporate intersectionality and is calling on the administration to issue a new executive order and agency guidance closing what he termed the «intersectionality loophole» by including intersectionality in the ban on unlawful discriminatory DEI practices in federal grantmaking.
The complaint arrives amid broader scrutiny of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs across federal agencies and universities. The Department of Justice has launched similar investigations into DEI initiatives at other public universities, including Arizona State University and New York University. The University of Maryland, HHS, and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.