Standing Up for Bisexual Binge-Drinking Science?

"Stand Up for Science" Rallies Against Trump's New Budget Cuts / Freezes

“Stand Up for Science” rally-goers in DC shared their worries with me about the government cutting funds from research studying everything from cancer to fish mating patterns and binge drinking among bisexual women.

As I arrived, Congressman Jamie Raskin was closing the event with a politically charged speech repeatedly referring to the January 6th “insurrection” and forwarding the long-debunked hoax that President Trump recommended injecting bleach to cure COVID-19.

A lab-coat-wearing scientist at the rally told me that the Trump administration is “affecting our ability to not just do the science but continue doing science to train future scientists.” Science is important, he said, because “it’s what got us out of a pandemic.” When I asked how he’d respond to someone who points out science might be responsible for creating COVID-19 in a lab, he dismissed it as a wild “conspiracy theory”.

The crowd included many government workers and government-funded academics worried about job and funding cuts imposed by the Trump administration, with the help of the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

A researcher at the National Institute of Health (NIH) expressed frustration over funding cuts and “travel bans” preventing NIH workers from traveling to promote their research. “We can't travel to present research that we've been doing,” they told me.

Marine scientist Robbie Roemer at the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR), said his National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) funded study to track the mating patterns of fish was recently in jeopardy, but is now going forward “because NOAA was very smart, saw the writing on the wall, and released all funds ahead of time, instead of just incrementally releasing over a four year period.”

“People don’t understand what a small fish like a herring can do and provide,” Roamer said, explaining that his study has value because herring is used every day in cosmetics, fertilizer, and dog food.

University of Virginia neuroscience graduate student Venezia Roshko, who spoke at the rally, told me her research on labor induction, a common medical procedure used to start labor contractions artificially, isn’t being funded as scheduled due to a budget freeze.

“This is a life-saving procedure that is super necessary” for many women, Roshko says, but “We just we don't know what it does to the brain.” The procedure is shown to “increase the risk of postpartum depression” and “significantly increase the risk of neurodevelopmental conditions in the offspring.” By learning what it's doing to the brain, Roshko says, “we can help more women access this treatment without any of them having to worry about any of the side effects.”

Understanding how a medical procedure will affect the brains of pregnant women and their babies seems like a worthy endeavor. However, other research put on hold is more questionable. When I asked “Stand for Science” lead organizer, Samantha Goldstein, for examples of important research at risk due to recent budget cuts, she cited “very important” research “looking at college aged adults, young adults that, binge drink”.

Funding for another study on the alcohol consumption of bisexual women is also at risk. “I have another friend that also submitted one that was looking at bisexual women and their tendency that they have a higher rates of binge drinking or heavy alcohol use. So I'm sure even beyond that, because of the language that's also at risk because of the bisexual women in the grant,” Goldstein told me.

Which of these studies would you like to fund with your tax dollars?