GLAD Law Files Friend-of-the-Court Briefs in Opposition to Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program Changes

In another example of the Trump administration’s attempt to stigmatize and restrict the lives of LGBTQ+ people, the rule change defines providing some essential medical care for transgender people as a “substantial illegal purpose.” 

On February 24, 2026, GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD Law) joined several nonprofit organizations to submit friend-of-the-court briefs in two cases involving a Department of Education change to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program. The change creates a sweeping new discretion for the Secretary of Education to disqualify any “public service job” from the program if they determine the employer has a “substantial illegal purpose.”  

The new rule defines providing some essential medical care for transgender people as a “substantial illegal purpose.” GLAD Law’s briefs address the Department of Education’s lack of authority to enact such a rule and emphasize its discriminatory animus against transgender people. It is one more example of the Trump administration’s attempt to stigmatize and restrict the lives of LGBTQ+ people. 
 
The PSLF program was created by Congress in 2007 to encourage employment in public service. The program forgives the balance of a borrower’s regular student loan once they have made 10 years of payments while working at a qualifying public service organization, such as a government agency or non-profit. 
 
The new rule, which follows a March 2025 executive order, creates a broad definition of “substantial illegal purpose” to sweep in a range of legal activities the administration does not like. It then provides the Secretary of Education with significant discretion to disqualify an employer from participating in the PSLF program based on that definition. Disqualification from the program would both make it more costly and difficult for employers to recruit and retain employees and steer student borrowers away from public service.

Read the brief in National Council of Nonprofits v. Linda McMahon 

Read the brief in Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights v. US Department of Education 

GLAD Law was joined in filing by the following organizations: 

  • Equality California
  • Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc. 
  • National Black Justice Collective 
  • National Women’s Law Center 
  • One Colorado 
  • Our Family Coalition 
  • OutFront Minnesota 
  • PFLAG Greater Boston 
  • Service and Advocacy for GLBTQ+ Elders (SAGE)