Parents around the country have protested the inclusion of gender ideology in schools. (iStock)
The Center for Practical Federalism is an arm of the nonprofit organization the State Policy Network, and seeks to provide resources to the American public and policymakers to educate them about federalism, and the balance between state and national politics to prevent government overreach.
The issue originated in 2017, when the National 4-H Council and USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture shared a "4-H Guidance for Inclusion of Individuals of all Gender Identities, Gender Expressions, Sexual Orientation and Sexes" on a USDA-managed website.
That guidance has since been rescinded, and the Trump administration issued an executive order in January instructing agencies to take "appropriate action to ensure that intimate spaces designated for women, girls, or females (or for men, boys, or males) are designated by sex and not identity."
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The Center for Practical Federalism is requesting that the USDA conduct a review of all federally funded 4-H programs, land grant institutions and 4-H facilities to determine where rescinded gender ideology policies are still being enforced. (Liz Hafalia/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)
Other states have similar policies, according to the Center for Practical Federalism. For example, California and Oregon both espouse policies in official documents or in training materials for their 4-H programs that place participants and adult chaperones in overnight housing based on their gender identity, rather than biological sex, the group said.
The University of California's 4-H Youth Development Program did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital, nor did Oregon State's 4-H Youth Development Program.
As a result, the Center for Practical Federalism is requesting that the USDA conduct a review of all federally funded 4-H programs, land grant institutions and 4-H facilities to determine where rescinded gender ideology policies are still being enforced. Likewise, the group urges the USDA to institute formal standards "to prevent subregulatory guidance from circumventing lawful rulemaking."
"We also recommend that the Department use this case as a springboard for a broader, agency-wide audit of existing guidance documents, rescinding those that bypassed the regulatory process or are no longer necessary," Woodlief said in the letter.
The USDA did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
Diana Stancy is a politics reporter with Fox News Digital covering the White House.
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