January 23, U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance announcedNew policies to promote human flourishing in foreign aid. This policy has nothing to do with prosperity and is part of the Trump administration’s efforts to weaponize U.S. foreign aid to force ideological conformity, police identity, and stifle dissent at home and abroad.
One of the policies is three pillars It promotes a discriminatory framework that denies the existence of transgender people and seeks to censor organizations that affirm transgender people and their rights.
The new policy is an expansion of the policy, also known as the Mexico City Policy. global gag rulesSince 1984, every Republican administration has limited U.S. foreign aid to non-U.S. civil society organizations that provide abortion care. What is new and unprecedented is the extension of this logic of rights restriction to efforts to address gender identity and, more broadly, to anti-discrimination efforts.
The new policy also applies to more categories of aid recipients, including multilateral organizations such as United Nations agencies.
The Trump administration is seeking to keep transgender people as invisible globally as they are in the U.S., in response to the expansion of global anti-masculinity laws. High tariffs for each country The chilling message is clear from groups resisting President Trump’s desire for Greenland and withholding funding from groups that refuse to toe the ideological line. There are high costs for thwarting the regime’s political and ideological goals.
Under this rule, an organization risks losing U.S. funding if its activities are deemed to fall under the false concept of .gender ideology. ” Organizations cannot provide access to, view, or support. Gender-affirming care. It also fails to provide accurate information, counseling, and public assistance to transgender people. The restrictions also apply to cultural activities such as “drag queen workshops, performances, and documentaries.”
Organizations receiving foreign aid from the United States will need to censor themselves, even if their own or local laws allow or require them to speak out for human rights.
The new policy was announced after the Trump administration dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Development, which for decades provided the bulk of the United States’ international development and humanitarian assistance.
Let me be clear: LGBT people everywhere do not depend on America to organize, defend, and stand up for their rights. and Foreign aid is not the answer To eliminate global inequality. But the sudden shift in US foreign policy will have far-reaching implications.
For many years, protecting the rights of LGBT people has been a core tenet of the United States’ commitment to human rights. The U.S. embassy often served as a safe haven for human rights defenders. The government encouraged homosexuality and transphobia for political gain. For LGBT people in 65 countries, criminalizing same-sex intimacy; Clinics run by civil society and supported by U.S. funds became lifesaving spaces where people could receive HIV and other treatment without fear of being turned away, ridiculed, or reported to the police.
Much of this progress is now at risk. As a result of U.S. funding cuts, organizations that directly provided health care and other services to LGBT people were forced to abruptly cease their services. Cutting off people’s access to chronic medications Alternative care is often not implemented.
The impact extends beyond personal harm. Public health programs, by definition, are more likely to fail when prejudice and fear become institutionalized. Transgender people are also in that group. Highest risk of poor health This is precisely because of discrimination and violence.
By prohibiting organizations, from local civil society groups to multilateral organizations like the United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), from affirming transgender identities or addressing these underlying symptoms, gag rules expanded globally are actively undermining the foundations of effective public health programs.
Under newly expanded gag rules, organizations face a dire choice: whether to accept funding from the United States. They can self-censor and suspend all activities related to the rights and needs of transgender people. Alternatively, there is a risk that funding from the United States will be withheld, jeopardizing the survival of the organization in an increasingly difficult economic and financial environment.
This is important because civil society is one of the few effective countermeasures against the rise of global populism and authoritarian governance. With global backlash Working against the rights of women and LGBT people is an effort to centralize power, erode accountability, and close civic space.
Civil society organizations are important in exposing and resisting authoritarian creeps and supporting marginalized groups. Silencing organizations or hollowing them out through funding cuts accelerates the closure of civic space and strengthens authoritarian governance.
When the United States backs down and bullies, other countries and communities need to step up to fill funding gaps and reduce their institutions’ dependence on ideologically constrained U.S. foreign aid.
They need to invest resources to support marginalized groups, increase funding for civil society groups, and strengthen multilateral mechanisms such as: global fund, Support funds to fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. They must clearly and consistently affirm the human rights of everyone, without exception.
Alex Muller is the director of Human Rights Watch’s LGBT rights program.
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This post, “The Global Cost of Trump’s Foreign Aid Ideology” was first published in “Washington Blade: LGBTQ News, Politics, LGBTQ Rights, Gay News.”
Source: Washington Blade: LGBTQ News, Politics, LGBTQ Rights, Gay News – www.washingtonblade.com
