Washington (CNN) The Trump administration helped push the national 4-H club to remove a contentious LGBT-friendly policy, setting off a battle that eventually led to the firing earlier this year of the top 4-H leader in Iowa, according to a Des Moines Register investigation published Sunday.

The investigation details the creation and eventual removal of the policy, which sought to "ensure LGBT members felt protected by their local 4-H program," by asking the organization to "treat all students consistent with their gender identity and allow them 'equal access,'" according to the paper. It also details the role of Heidi Green, the former chief of staff for Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue, in requesting the policy be rescinded within several days of its publication, the paper said.

According to the paper, "several states posted the policy on their websites, including Iowa," as "part of a larger effort to modernize the federally authorized youth group and broaden membership."

Days later after outcry from conservative and evangelical groups, at the direction of Green, a communications manager at the National Institute of Food and Agriculture "sent an 'urgent' email to at least two states — Iowa and New York — urging the 4-H organizations there to remove the LGBT policy from their websites," the Register found in the course of their investigation, which included interviews and more than 500 pages of state and federal communications.

The 4-H program is a youth organization with 6 million members and is administered by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture which is part of the Department of Agriculture.

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