Hospital still promoting DEI and trans ideology despite federal funding

A hospital group in Chicago has quietly advanced a DEI agenda emphasizing transgenderism despite continuing to receive federal funds.

A new Consumers’ Research campaign has uncovered active DEI policies in the Rush University Medical Center hospital system. Rush CEO Omar Lateef previously said the hospital’s “commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion is a critical part of our DNA.”

‘Physical health can also be greatly affected from long-standing internalized stigma.’

Rush University President Robert Higgins, Rush University System for Health Chair Emeritus Susan Crown, and the Rush University Medical Center did not respond to a request for comment.

“Rush is betraying what should be every hospital’s core mission by using its time, energy, and taxpayer support to promote radical woke activism,” Consumers’ Research Executive Director Will Hild said. “Not only does Rush have a history of prioritizing DEI, child sex-change procedures, and climate alarmism, the hospital also has a troubling history of questionable spending on nonmedical initiatives completely unrelated to patient care, like its partnership with the Chicago White Sox.”

The Rush University Children’s Hospital’s pediatrics department currently conducts “department-wide DEI retreats” as part of a broader anti-racism and LGBTQ curriculum, according to the department website.

Retreat topics included “Microaggression Workshops” and sessions on “Achieving Health Equity for LGBTQ People.”

RELATED: Oregon’s war on confused children, by the numbers

Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Four thousand staff and students completed Rush’s “LGBTQ-affirming care” training in 2025. Affirm: The Rush Center for Gender, Sexuality, and Reproductive Health teaches program participants that “physical health can also be greatly affected from long-standing internalized stigma.”

Rush intends to offer the training to all employees, according to its program recap.

Although Affirm paused hormone replacement therapy and puberty blockers to new patients in 2025, the hospital still offers some gender-related “services” to minors.

“Rush continues to provide mental health, behavioral health, and social services to gender care patients, regardless of age,” spokesperson Tobin Klinger told Block Club Chicago. “Rush will work to refer any patients to other programs for services we do not provide.”

Rush also propped up Pride parades in both 2025 and 2026.

“As Pride Month comes to a close, we continue to march forward, leading with love every step of the way. At Rush, we celebrate the vibrant diversity and unwavering resilience of our LGBTQ+ community, not just in June, but all year long,” the medical center wrote in a June 2023 Instagram post.

President Donald Trump’s “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation” executive order in January 2025 restricted federal funds for hospitals that offer sex-rejecting interventions to minors.

Rush spent $194 million in federal funds for fiscal year 2025 while continuing its LGBTQ training programs, according to a June report by Save Our States.

The hospital system increased CEO Omar Lateef’s compensation by nearly $800,000 to $3.7 million between 2023 and 2024 while laying off an unknown number of employees due to “financial headwinds.” Rush began sponsoring the Chicago White Sox games in 2022.

Lateef also benefited from a personal housing allowance and subsidized membership dues for elite Chicago social clubs during this period.

Under Lateef’s leadership, Rush committed to using 100% renewable energy by 2030 and held “that climate change is fundamentally a human health issue.” As part of its environmental agenda, Rush participates in the Good Food Partnership Program to prioritize “suppliers who have experienced negative systemic social and/or economic impacts such as ‘people of color, across all supply chains and to the greatest extent possible.”

“This latest campaign by Consumers’ Research demonstrates that we will continue fighting for everyday consumers by holding woke hospitals like Rush accountable,” Hild told Blaze News.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!