AP Post on USAID Cuts Backfires as Critics Question Taxpayer-Funded Nepal Transgender Jobs
An Associated Press social media post about transgender aid workers in Nepal turning to sex work after losing their jobs due to U.S. foreign aid cuts sparked a wave of conservative backlash, with critics arguing the video made the case for defunding USAID rather than saving it.
The AP post said that in Nepal, where “a conservative culture leaves openly transgender people with few legal job options,” around 100 LGBTQ aid workers left jobless by U.S. funding cuts had turned to sex work to survive. An accompanying video focused on Rubi Lama, a former HIV outreach worker who said USAID-funded programs had provided free condoms, lubricant and HIV-prevention medication before the cuts.
“When USAID funding was there, condoms were free, lubricant was also distributed … for free,” Lama said in the video, adding that HIV treatments, including PrEP, were also available without cost. “But, now it is gone.”
The framing quickly drew criticism from conservatives who said the story raised the opposite question: why American taxpayers were funding those programs in the first place.
Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, was among the conservatives who argued the AP report made the opposite point from the one intended. (Read more from “AP Post on USAID Cuts Backfires as Critics Question Taxpayer-Funded Nepal Transgender Jobs” HERE)
