WASHINGTON, DC— This afternoon, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) – the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) civil rights organization – hosted a die-in in front of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to protest the Trump Administration’s dangerous cuts to HHS programs. The cuts, which target programs and research on a wide variety of other social and public health issues including STIs, mental health and suicide prevention, gender-affirming care, cancer prevention, elder care, substance use and harm reduction and homelessness will result in far-reaching, deadly consequences for the LGBTQ+ community. 

HRC’s Senior Public Policy Advocate Matthew Rose addressed the crowd on the devastating impacts to LGBTQ programs and research, especially for the thousands of Black and Latiné gay, bisexual men and transgender women who are disproportionately impacted by HIV. For more info on how the HHS cuts will impact  LGBTQ+ public health, read our fact sheet here. 

“Every person here represents countless other stories. Countless lives. Countless possibilities. And as the federal government cuts funding—from research to housing, from mental health to Medicaid—we’re not just watching systems disappear. We’re watching lives disappear,” said HRC’s Senior Public Policy Advocate Matthew Rose. “But LGBTQ+ people will always be here. We are still here. In defiance. In community. In truth.”

During the event, a narrator slowly read through a list of devastating health outcomes that HHS funding cuts will have on the LGBTQ+ community. Progressively, over a 100 participants fell to the ground symbolizing the thousands of LGBTQ+ individuals that will die at the hands of the Trump Administration’s actions. These cuts are among the litany of attacks by the Trump Administration in its first 100 days on the LGBTQ+ community that weaken the quality of our country’s healthcare system and exacerbate a wide-variety of public health concerns. Defunding critical health programs will not only exacerbate widening gaps in healthcare inequality for LGBTQ+ and other marginalized communities, but could result in an overwhelming increase in needless suffering including death.

The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people. HRC envisions a world where LGBTQ+ people are embraced as full members of society at home, at work and in every community.

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