“Menstrual cycles in transgender men”? Donald Trump’s USDA head kills $600K grant with one misleading post

Southern University in Louisiana was awarded $600,000 for its "Project Farm to Feminine Hygiene", a bold effort to develop natural alternatives to synthetic sanitary products. Using regenerative cotton, wool, and industrial hemp, the project also planned to launch educational programmes and support local fibre farmers by building a processing facility.

But that vision has been cut short.

On 7 March, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced on X that she was revoking the funding, claiming the grant was meant to study “menstrual cycles in transgender men.” It wasn’t. The actual documentation mentions transgender people only once—acknowledging that they, too, may menstruate.

The single-line reference was enough to trigger a misinformation storm.

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Twisted narrative, tangible harm

The misinformation campaign was fuelled by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Donald Trump’s newly formed cost-cutting agency led by Elon Musk. Rollins’s post was promoted across social media by DOGE, echoed by right-wing figures like Congresswoman Nancy Mace, and picked up by outlets including Fox News. The claim spread fast and wide—over 5 million views on X alone.

“This was just one more senseless, hateful cancellation,” said a representative from Acadian Brown Cotton, a Louisiana fibre initiative that was collaborating on the project. The source, like others involved, asked to remain anonymous due to threats received online.

The backlash hasn’t only damaged the programme’s prospects—it has endangered people. Sources say the lead researcher, Dr Samii Kennedy Benson, feared for her safety in the wake of the false narrative.

A grant about women, miscast as something else

Despite claims from the USDA and the