Why Is Joe Biden giving millions of American taxpayer dollars to Iraq for teaching gender diversity in schools?

The Biden administration will spend as much as $12 million educating the Iraqi population about “gender diversity acceptance” as part of an initiative to promote democracy in the troubled Middle Eastern nation.

RedState Last month, the State Department released a grant proposal of up to $4 million each to three Iraqi universities. Recipients are expected to establish “fields of study, course offerings, and/or majors” emphasizing “gender issues” as well as climate change impact “adaptation and mitigation,” according to the grant proposal.

For a program to qualify, it must also adhere to “progressive curricula” and contribute to enhancing the student body’s diversity at American-style Iraqi higher education institutions. It also stipulates that 40 percent of all funds awarded must directly benefit Iraqi women, although that does not necessarily include biological women.

“[The grant] requires that all activities fully address intersectional gender and inclusion considerations, ensuring that individuals of all genders and diverse backgrounds benefit from support to the extent feasible, and that gender and inclusion awareness is a built-in component of project activities,” it reads, adding that this applies to both “gender” and “gender identity.”

Under the “equity” category, the department highlights the importance of equity for “transgender and queer” Iraqis. In assessing grant applications, potential recipients will be assessed on their capacity to integrate “Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility” into their staffing structures.

To promote gender equity in Iraq, 40 percent of all funding allocated through the grant “must directly benefit women in Iraq.” The State Department’s commitment to advancing gender equity, however, isn’t confined to biological females.

The department “requires that all activities fully address intersectional gender and inclusion considerations, ensuring that individuals of all genders and diverse backgrounds benefit from support to the extent feasible, and that gender and inclusion awareness is a built-in component of project activities.” This requirement applies to both “gender” and “gender identity,” a grant footnote clarifies.

The State Department grant also makes an explicit request for diversity, equity, and inclusion to be pushed on Iraqi universities, listing them as among the acceptable activities for funding. In the “equity” section, the department describes the need to focus on equity for “transgender and queer” Iraqis.

In 2021, a government report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction found that the U.S. had invested more than $787.4 million in the pursuit of gender equality in Afghanistan, achieving disappointing results.

Iraq is not the only Middle Eastern country where the Biden administration is investing in progressive dogmas usually confined to the liberal West. Last month, the State Department offered a $500,000 grant to help teach English in Pakistan, in part by providing “intensive professional development courses for Pakistani transgender youth.”