Attorney General Josh Shapiro on Dec. 20 said he is co-leading a coalition of state attorneys general to oppose Trump administration policy that he said undermines the rights of LGBTQ individuals and families.

Under a new federal proposal, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is attempting to eliminate explicit anti-discrimination language used in regulations governing federal grants that guarantees equal access to programs administered across the country, Shapiro's office said in a statement.

The proposal would apply to a broad range of HHS grant programs, including maternal and child health grants, federally assisted health training programs, Head Start programs, and mental health and substance abuse grants. LGBTQ families who foster and adopt children are among the most likely to be harmed by potentially being excluded from participation in federally funded child-welfare programs.

"This heartless proposal would do nothing to help Pennsylvanians or our fellow Americans," Shapiro said. "In fact, it would send us backwards by depriving our sons, daughters and neighbors from receiving the very services all of our tax dollars pay to deliver without discrimination."

Under the proposed rule, HHS would eliminate explicit protections for "age, disability, sex, race, color, national origin, religion, gender identity, or sexual orientation" and replace them with a generic prohibition based on federal statute.