‘Affirm And Support LGBTQIA+ Identities’: Biden Admin Dishing Out Millions To Treat Eating Disorders With Gay Pride

The Biden-Harris administration has granted millions of dollars in funding for a virtual treatment that aims to help cure eating disorders by “affirming” LGBTQIA+ patients’ sexual orientation and gender claims.

The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded Auburn University Assistant Professor of Psychological Sciences Tiffany Brown and San Diego State University Professor of Psychology Aaron Blashill up to $5 million in grants to “develop and provide” the Promoting Resilience to Improve Disordered Eating (PRIDE) treatment — a virtual “identity-affirming eating disorder treatment for LGBTQIA+ patients,” the Auburn University College of Liberal Arts website states. The PRIDE initiative is undergirded by the idea that “identity-related stress” is an “underlying motivator of disordered eating,” and thus that “affirm and support” patients’ beliefs that they are LGBTQIA+ can help cure eating disorders.

“Even when available, many LGBTQIA+ people across the country feel uncomfortable accessing treatment, for fear of discrimination or lack of understanding,” Brown said of the PRIDE initiative. “That is why we are so excited and honored to receive this grant from the NIMH to evaluate a treatment that integrates approaches that affirm and support LGBTQIA+ identities.”

Brown runs Auburn’s Appearance Concerns, Eating, Prevention and Treatment (ACCEPT) lab, which states its aim is to “improve eating disorder treatment for traditionally underserved populations,” according to the Auburn website. Blashill heads San Diego State University’s Body Image, Sexuality and Health lab, which “explores the role body image plays in influencing eating disorders and other health behaviors, with a focus on health disparities among sexual and gender minority individuals.”