Despite President Donald Trump’s ongoing push to curb taxpayer-funded spending on LGBTQ-related initiatives, a government-backed research project aimed at alleviating “voice dysphoria” among transgender individuals remains fully funded — to the tune of nearly a quarter-million dollars.
Led by University of Cincinnati Professor Vesna Novak, the federally funded study seeks to develop “transgender voice training” software that helps transgender individuals align their voices with their gender identities. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has allocated $214,998 for Fiscal Year 2025 to continue the project, originally launched under the Biden administration in December 2023.
According to the project’s abstract, “voice dysphoria” — the emotional distress that arises when a person’s voice doesn’t match their gender identity — is cited as a contributor to the lower reported quality of life among transgender and “gender-diverse” individuals. The software being developed aims to reduce this incongruence through computer or smartphone-based tools that provide voice feedback, training exercises, and progress tracking.
The study is housed under the NIH’s National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, though critics have questioned how the transgender-focused research aligns with the agency’s core mission. The Biden administration, which originally approved the funding, did not offer clarification during its tenure.
The Trump administration has worked swiftly to reverse or defund multiple LGBTQ-related initiatives that were greenlit under Biden. One notable example was the widely criticized $8.2 million NIH-funded study on “gender-affirming” hormone treatments for mice. Another included shuttering international gender clinics that had received U.S. taxpayer money through what was originally designated as HIV/AIDS relief funding.
Despite those actions, Novak’s project has flown largely under the radar — until now.
“Americans are being forced to foot the bill for fringe social engineering experiments that most would never voluntarily support,” said one GOP congressional aide familiar with Trump’s budget agenda. “This is exactly the kind of spending the president has pledged to stop.”
A recent DOGE report revealed that the Biden administration allocated over $174 million in taxpayer funds toward initiatives promoting gender ideology and transgender-related programs. This substantial expenditure encompasses 341 grants totaling approximately $128.2 million and 63 federal contracts amounting to about $46.1 million. Notably, the Department of Health and Human Services administered 60 grants, contributing nearly $84 million to these initiatives.
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