Donald Trumps Education Department (ED) released a new rule to deny student loan forgiveness to people who work for LGBTQ+ organizations.The rule will deny access to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program to many Americans. Employees of government or non-profit organizations that support communities and initiatives that this administration dislikes are likely to be cut off from the program. Related Calls to suicide hotline decline sharply after Christian conservative resigns as education head As part of the announcement, Under Secretary of Education Nicholas Kent made it very clear that organizations supporting trans people were a target of the new rule: The Public Service Loan Forgiveness program was meant to support Americans who dedicate their careers to public service not to subsidize organizations that violate the law, whether by harboring illegal immigrants or performing prohibited medical procedures that attempt to transition children away from their biological sex.Trump initially signalled his intention to overhaul the PSLF program back in March when he issued the executive order Restoring Public Service Loan Forgiveness. The order claimed that the Biden administration had abused the program and denigrated non-profits by suggesting that the program could push students into organizations that hide under the umbrella of a non-profit designation and degrade our national interest, thus requiring additional Federal funding to correct the negative societal effects caused by these organizations federally subsidized wrongdoing. Insights for the LGBTQ+ community Subscribe to our briefing for insights into how politics impacts the LGBTQ+ community and more. Subscribe to our Newsletter today The PSLF program is meant to provide student loan relief to people who work in public service, both for the government and for non-profit organizations.Trumps March executive order directed Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to define public service to exclude organizations that he disagrees with or that have a substantial illegal purpose. His examples included language that echoes his rhetoric against the trans community: child abuse, including the chemical and surgical castration or mutilation of children or the trafficking of children to so-called transgender sanctuary States for purposes of emancipation from their lawful parents, in violation of applicable law. Theyll also target organizations with a pattern of aiding and abetting illegal discrimination, which has been the same language used to suggest that supporting trans children is in violation of Title IX or that diversity, inclusion, and equity (DEI) programs discriminate against dominant groups like white people and men. That executive order was a list of Trumps demands for new policies. The final rule rolled out by the ED this week represents the first implementation of those demands as actual policy. The PSLF program was created under Republican President George W. Bush in 2007 as a result of the College Cost Reduction and Access Act. Graduates who worked in approved government or non-profit jobs could have their loans forgiven after making 120 qualifying payments over a span of 10 years.The PSLF program was designed to encourage graduates to take jobs in needed fields and to support communities in the United States by providing economic stability through the forgiveness of student loans, even when high-paying jobs werent always available.Trumps order and the EDs new rule have been criticized as a political move to attack certain groups, rather than an attempt to improve the program in any way. This rule is simply about bullying LGBTQ+ people and nonprofits and other progressive groups and making life more difficult for those who Donald Trump dislikes, senior legal writer for the Human Rights Campaign, Luis Vasquez, told The Advocate. The result is that it would keep talented people from pursuing careers in public service, fearing that they may suddenly lose eligibility for this program on a whim.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.