Inside world's top science society's convention bashing Trump, pushing DEI, pronouns: 'Felt like a funeral'

A major scientific society's conference draw sharp criticism for its progressive messaging and vocal criticism of President Donald Trump. Politics Inside world's top science society's convention bashing Trump, pushing DEI, pronouns: 'Felt like a funeral' An AAAS spokesperson told Fox News Digital the organization respects the 'free speech' of the attendees By Andrew Mark Miller Fox News Published February 17, 2026 8:00pm EST Facebook Twitter Threads Flipboard Comments Print Email Add Fox News on Google close Video The Miracles Among Us explores intersection of faith and science Fox News senior medical analyst Dr. Marc Siegel explains the meaning of his new book, ‘The Miracles Among Us’ on ‘Fox News Live.’ NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! FIRST ON FOX: One of the world’s largest and most influential scientific societies held its annual conference last weekend, which a Fox News Digital review found was littered with examples of progressive messaging, criticisms of the Trump administration, and "woke" workshops. Attendees who showed up at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) event, held at the Phoenix Convention Center from Feb. 12-14, were immediately greeted at registration with identifier stickers that used gender pronouns such as "they/them," "xi/xer," "xe/xem," and other descriptors that critics have alleged have little to do with science and biology.During the meeting’s opening night, shortly after a 10-minute hoop dance routine from traditional Native American dancers, AAAS CEO Dr. Sudip Parikh told the audience that it’s been a "hard" and "tough year for science and scientists in this country." Parikh went on to blame DOGE for the "devastation" of "some of our science agencies" and the "president’s budget request" that "cut science by half" and, in his opinion, amounted to "forfeiting the future." DOCTORS ON KEY US HEALTH TASK FORCE ACCUSED OF PRIORITIZING DEI OVER EVIDENCE-BASED MEDICINE The 2025 annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. (John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images) "What happened over the course of the last year is a rupture. We’re not going back, it’s not possible, too much damage has been done, too much has changed. There’s an entire generation of scientists that have a scar, a scar that is not going to go away," Parikh explained, adding that scars can "make us tougher" and "become almost shields" that "build resilience."Parikh told the crowd that he warned last year that Robert F. Kennedy Jr was the "wrong person" for Health and Human Services secretary and said, "I still feel that way," which prompted laughter and applause from the crowd. "It’s going to take protests, it’s going to take politics, it’s going to take the ability to not speak gibberish, all of that has got to come together if we’re going to fight for the inheritance of the enlightenment to continue to make this world a better place," Parikh said.Workshops at the event, which provided gender-neutral washrooms, included a session titled "Mao-Mei Liu: Nurturing Diversity in Science is Resistance," and another called "Investigating the Role of Race in Clinical Decision-Making." "Who Gets to Belong? Disability, Power, and Participation in Higher Education," another workshop was called. TOP MEDICAL SCHOOL MOVED DEI OFFICE TO SECRET LOCATION AS IT TRIES TO 'EVADE ACCOUNTABILITY': LEGAL GROUP The 2026 annual AAAS conference provided guests with an all-gender washroom and gender pronoun stickers. (Fox News Digital)Dr. Theresa A. Maldonado, a world-renowned expert in electrical engineering, delivered the president’s address at the conference and also lamented what a difficult year 2025 was for science and suggested climate change was responsible for the devastating southern California wildfires last year.AAAS, the publisher of the highly respected Science magazine, posted several more videos over the course of the next few days, many including speakers who criticized the Trump administration and injected politics into discussions. "Colonial Legacies, Climate Crises, and the Erosion of Mobility Choice" was another workshop that scientists at the conference were offered and in an interview with "climate justice scholar" Jola Ajibade, she explained how climate change has benefited a "few wealthy people" while "low-income communities are displaced.""At the center of my work is giving a voice but also bringing to the attention of everyone the impact of a slew of climate solutions, the impact of those solutions on low-income communities, on Black communities, on indigenous, on Latino communities as well," Ajibade explained, adding that she is focused on finding a "decolonial" approach. Listed sponsors of the event included the Science Philanthropy Alliance, a group tied to the progressive consulting behemoth Arabella Advisors through the New Venture Fund, a nonprofit that pushes a variety of progressive causes. "The whole thing that is sad for me is that when I attended these conferences in the first Trump administration there was plenty of liberal nonsense, but it still was a celebration of sc