Cleveland, Columbus and six other plaintiffs secured a major legal victory last week when U.S. District Judge Barbara Rothstein granted a preliminary injunction in a multi-city lawsuit challenging two of President Donald Trump’s executive orders.
Trump issued the orders in January 2025, prohibiting federal grants from being used to operate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs and any programs that “promote gender ideology’ – a term commonly used by far-right and Christian groups as an anti-transgender dog whistle.
The following July, the City of Seattle filed a federal lawsuit alleging the conditions of the orders were unlawful. By spring 2026, both Cleveland and Columbus had joined an amended version of the complaint – along with Durham, North Carolina, Portland, Oregon, and four individual counties in Maryland, Minnesota and Pennsylvania.
Last week, Judge Rothstein released a 28-page opinion in favor of the plaintiffs, allowing them to continue to access federal grant dollars for programs that fall outside the orders’ new conditions.
Law Director and Chief Legal Counsel for the City of Cleveland Mark Griffin told The Buckeye Flame the court’s decision is a major win for LGBTQ+ Clevelanders.
“It’s a big deal. We’re feeling good,” Griffin said. “The city is not going to step back from its commitment to human rights.”
“The federal government requested that every city abandon or renounce all of its human rights and LGBT protections as a condition of getting any federal grant money for any project of any kind,” he said. “We pushed back on that by filing for a preliminary injunction to protect our ability to protect our citizens.”
“This court case is just an expression of [Cleveland] Mayor [Justin] Bibb’s and our administration’s values,” Griffin added. “Which is that everybody should be honored with the same level of dignity”
Limiting federal grants
Seattle’s initial lawsuit challenged two of President Trump’s executive orders regarding federal grants: “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity,” and “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.”
The orders directly prohibited cities from using federal grant dollars to fund programs that include diversity, equity and inclusion principles.
An amended version of Seattle’s initial complaint added eight more plaintiffs – including Cleveland and Columbus.
Columbus City Attorney Zack Klein called the orders illegal in a written statement, publicly urging the federal court to side with the city.
“Without [federal grant funding], the City will be unable to fully fund critical programs that feed our kids, provide job opportunities to our residents and help fight domestic violence and other crimes in our community,” Klein said.
Klein’s office has not yet responded to The Buckeye Flame’s request for additional comment at the time of print.
Protecting LGBTQ+ Ohioans
In Cleveland, Griffin said the preliminary injunction is a win not just for LGBTQ+ Clevelanders, but for any Clevelander who benefits from programs funded by federal grant dollars.
“It matters because Clevelanders want to have a city that’s on their side,” Griffin told The Buckeye Flame. “This would’ve cut off our ability to provide specific healthcare or counseling for LGBT youth. It would also make it challenging for us to pursue crimes on the basis of hate crimes, sexual LGBT-related hate crimes. But the community is also more than just those issues.”
According to the complaint, the orders would have also limited federal grant funding for at least five critical support programs for job readiness, hunger and nutrition, home repairs, parenting, child development, prenatal care and at-risk youth – along with after-school, adult literacy and senior programs.
Additionally, the orders would have eliminated the Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) program, which allows Ohioans living with HIV/AIDS to access housing and other resources at reduced cost.
In Columbus, the orders would have eliminated drug court programs, law-enforcement hiring and training procedures, domestic violence services, victim advocacy, youth diversion and forensic and investigative work – including the reduction of sexual-assault kit and DNA backlogs, Klein said.
What happens next?
The case will appear before a judge a second time to determine if the preliminary injunction should be made permanent.
“At least for the next year or so – unless the court reverses her decision – we are protected to continue to accept federal grant money and to do so consistent with our values,” Griffin said. “That is a big deal.”
“From day one, Mayor Bibb has been committed to equality,” he added. “We have protections for gender expression written into our HR manuals. We have an all-gender bathroom. We participate in Pride Month and support [LGBTQ+ Pride] at every level.”
Griffin said he’s also optimistic a federal judge will grant the plaintiffs a permanent injunction.
“The city will continue to fight for the rights of citizens and also for the right to make decisions about how we want to express our values here in Cleveland,” Griffin said. “The fight doesn’t end with one ruling by one judge. The fight continues.”
Griffin said the Trump administration is now seeking to impose the same conditions in the executive orders by amending the Code of Federal Regulations – “the codification of the general and permanent rules” published by the executive departments and agencies of the federal government in the Federal Register each year.
As part of that process, the federal government undergoes a comment-seeking process.
“I’m told that there are currently 40,000 comments that have already been filed,” Griffin said. “And [the City of Cleveland] will be filing comments to support the same values that we did in our motion in court.” 🔥
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