National
No suspects in shooting of Texas lesbian couple
Teens found in park, one dead; coast to coast vigils planned for Wednesday, Friday
Two young lesbians in Texas were shot over the weekend, killing one of the girls.
A national outcry has followed news that on Saturday morning, Mollie Judith Olgin, 19, and Mary Christine Chapa, 18, were found in a Corpus Christi area park with gunshots to the head, according to Portland, Texas police. Olgin was declared dead at the scene, while Chapa is in stable condition.
Friends described the pair as a couple, and say they had been dating for five months before the shooting occurred, fueling speculation that hate may have been a motivating factor behind the crime, according to the Dallas Voice.
However, due to the nature of Chapa’s injuries, police have yet to interview the only witness to the crime, and without a suspect, cannot attribute a motive.
“Information from family and friends indicates that Mollie and Mary were engaged in a same-sex relationship,” Portland Police Chief Randy Wright wrote in a press release Tuesday night. “However, there is no current evidence to indicate the attacks were motivated by that relationship.”
Wright did not return calls regarding the investigation.
“We’re at a point in the investigation where we’re hopeful for the recovery of Mary Christine Chapa because she’s going to be the primary witness at this point in time,” Chuck Smith, deputy executive director of Equality Texas, told the Washington Blade. He noted the group is staying in touch with the Justice Department and the FBI as the investigation unfolds.
“I think the general reaction, both in the Portland area as well as in the larger community is one of shock,” Smith told the Blade. “Portland is a small town, they haven’t had a murder in two years, so it is certainly unusual for the city of Portland to have a violent crime like this. It is also unusual fortunately, to have this type of crime anywhere in the state that’s this violent in nature.”
“They apparently do not have evidence either way whether or not the crime was motivated by bias,” Smith added. “The surviving victim is going to be an important part of helping solve that investigation.”
Smith encouraged anyone with information about the incident to contact the Portland Police Department.
Vigils were planned to call attention to the shooting in San Francisco on Wednesday, as well as planned observances Friday in Portland, where the shooting took place, and Washington, D.C, at 6:00 p.m. at Dupont Circle.
“Whether or not it was a hate crime, it was a crime against humanity and for that reason alone we must stand up as a human family and support all who are in mourning,” said Michael Diviesti, Texas co-state lead organizer for grassroots LGBT group GetEQUAL, in a statement. “When something like this happens to one of us, it happens to all of us.”
GetEqual is maintaining a hub for information regarding the many local vigils being planned at a portal located at getequaltx.org/vigil.
“[The vigil] was initiated by friends of the victims, but it has quickly grown to be of interest to advocacy organizations and advocacy groups all across the state, and I think that is particularly important in terms of the coastal area that includes Corpus Christi, because historically it’s not been an easy place for LGBT people to organize in some respects because people don’t have the level of self-safety in order to be out and open,” Equality Texas’s Smith told the Blade of the Portland vigil, saying the organization will participate and observe, but is not organizing the event. “There is some level of trepidation in that area in terms of being out all the time.”
“I’m pleased to see that it motivates people to speak up,” Smith continued. “I would like to see people be involved all the time, not just when horrendous crimes like this occur. If it is violence against LGBT people that motivates people to wake up and recognize that they can’t just sit on the sidelines and expect other people to work and advance our movement, then on some levels it’s a good thing.”
According to Portland police, a spent shell casing from a handgun matching the bullets that killed Olgin was found at the scene, indicating, according to the release, the shooting occurred at the scene.
The news comes at a time when the Texas LGBT community — particularly along the Gulf Coast — continues to face hostility.
Last year in Corpus Christi, the ACLU intervened on behalf of students after the Flour Bluff Independent School District denied the students’ request to form a gay-straight alliance at the school and school administrators attempted to shut down all extracurricular activities rather than let the GSA form. The school board intervened and the clubs were again allowed in the school, including the GSA.
The news also comes the same week the Texas Republican Party published an anti-gay party platform, writing, in part, “We affirm that the practice of homosexuality tears at the fabric of society and contributes to the breakdown of the family unit. Homosexual behavior is contrary to the fundamental, unchanging truths that have been ordained by God, recognized by our country’s founders, and shared by the majority of Texans. Homosexuality must not be presented as an acceptable ‘alternative’ lifestyle, in public policy, nor should ‘family’ be redefined to include homosexual ‘couples.’ We believe there should be no granting of special legal entitlements or creation of special status for homosexual behavior, regardless of state of origin. Additionally, we oppose any criminal or civil penalties against those who oppose homosexuality out of faith, conviction or belief in traditional values.”
The platform also calls for the passage of the Federal Marriage Amendment, the repeal of any domestic partnership or civil union legislation anywhere in the country, and states its opposition to the Employment Non-Discrimination Act.
According to Smith, Equality Texas does not operate a specific statewide hate crime reporting mechanism where Texans can seek assistance in dealing with a case of anti-LGBT bias crime or discrimination.
“It’s sort of more done on the local level,” Smith said, saying that while Equality participates in community-based hate crime task forces, and some police departments have hate crime liaisons, the system is a “hodge podge” that causes problems throughout Texas. “While we do have a statewide hate crimes law, it has not been adequately implemented. Law enforcement has not had the level of training that one would need or expect to have in order for law enforcement jurisdictions across the state to adequately enforce and use the law.”
The White House
Trump budget would codify expanded global gag rule
Funding for LGBTQ health programs around the world would also be cut
The Trump-Vance administration’s fiscal year 2027 budget would codify the expanded global gag rule and eliminate funding for LGBTQ-specific programs in global health initiatives.
“The budget would ensure no funding supports abortion, unfettered access to birth control, and also eliminates funding for circumcision and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer services to better focus funds on life-saving assistance,” reads the proposed budget the White House released on April 3. “The United States should not pay for the world’s birth control and therapy.”
The proposed budget includes four examples of “eliminated activities.”
- In the last administration, PEPFAR funded health workers who performed over 21 abortions in Mozambique
- Promoting reproductive health education and access to birth control and other harmful programs couched under ‘family planning’ in Ghana
- A supply chain “control tower” to provide a “holistic commercial of the shelf solution” on the Office of Population and Reproductive Health (PRH)
- Promoting health equity and providing condoms and contraception in Kenya.
President Ronald Reagan in 1985 implemented the global gag rule, also known as the “Mexico City” policy, which bans U.S. foreign aid for groups that support abortion and/or offer abortion-related services.
Trump reinstated the rule during his first administration. The Biden-Harris administration shortly after it took office in January 2021 rescinded it.
The Trump-Vance White House earlier this year expanded the global gag rule to ban U.S. foreign aid for groups that promote “gender ideology.” The expansion took effect on Feb. 26.
US funding cuts have devastated global LGBTQ rights movement
The Trump-Vance administration after it took office in January 2025 moved to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development, which funded LGBTQ and intersex rights groups around the world. USAID officially shut down on July 1, 2025.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio in March 2025 announced the State Department would administer the 17 percent of USAID contracts that had not been cancelled. Rubio issued a waiver that allowed PEPFAR and other “life-saving humanitarian assistance” programs to continue to operate during the U.S. foreign aid freeze the White House announced shortly after it took office.
The global LGBTQ and intersex rights movement has lost more than an estimated $50 million in funding because of these cuts. The Washington Blade has previously reported PEPFAR-funded programs in Kenya and other African countries have been forced to suspend services and even shut down.
The Trump-Vance administration has signed healthcare-specific agreements with Kenya, Uganda, and other African countries through its American First Global Health Strategy. Advocacy groups with whom the Blade has spoken have expressed concern these partnerships will result in further exclusion and government-sanctioned discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
The proposed fiscal year 2027 budget includes $5.1 billion for “global health to end the previous administration’s abuse of these programs and to execute (the State Department’s) newly released America First Global Health Strategy.” This figure represents a $4.3 billion cut from the previous year.
“The president’s new vision of bilateral health assistance eliminates bloated Beltway Bandit contracts, does more with fewer dollars, and transitions recipient countries to self-reliance,” reads the proposed budget. “The budget would also eliminate disease-specific accounts and provide the department crucial agility to address the actual needs of each recipient country — across HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis, and polio — to strengthen global health security and protect Americans from disease.”
“The budget would focus on new compacts that unify funding, achieving economies of scale in both implementation and oversight,” it adds. “Under the prior administration, only about 40 percent of PEPFAR funds supported actual service delivery, including medications, testing, commodities, and health workers, with the remaining 60 percent wasted on duplicative administrative costs, unwieldy supply chains, and layers of endless bureaucracy. The new AFGHS (America First Global Health Strategy) compacts would improve efficiency, cut red tape, and dismantle the bloated ecosystem of foreign assistance profiteers.”
The Council for Global Equality on April 3 reiterated its criticism of the expanded global gag rule, and urged Congress to reject the proposed budget.
“We won’t mince words: people are dying because of this policy,” said the Council for Global Equality in a statement. “Making this policy permanent will only ensure that U.S. foreign assistance discriminates against those who need services the most, all while forcing people around the world to adhere to the Trump administration’s extremist, ideological agenda that denies the very existence of transgender, nonbinary, and intersex persons.”
“We will not be silent as Trump threatens to upend decades of bipartisan foreign assistance programs to appease his extremist base,” added the group. “We call on Congress to immediately reject this budget and block implementation of the expanded global gag rules.”
Vice President JD Vance and his wife, second lady Usha Vance, will visit Hungary next week.
An announcement the White House released on Thursday said the Vances will be in Budapest, the Hungarian capital, from April 7-8.
JD Vance “will hold bilateral meetings with” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. The announcement further indicates the vice president “will also deliver remarks on the rich partnership between the United States and Hungary.”
The Vances will travel to Hungary less than a week before the country’s parliamentary elections take place on April 12.
Orbán, who has been in office since 2010, and his Fidesz-KDNP coalition government have faced widespread criticism over its anti-LGBTQ crackdown.
The Associated Press notes polls indicate Orbán is trailing Péter Magyar and his center-right Tisza party.
President Donald Trump removed Attorney General Pam Bondi from her post Thursday, following growing criticism over how she and the Department of Justice handled a range of issues, including matters related to sex offender and Trump ally Jeffrey Epstein.
Trump announced Bondi’s removal on Truth Social, where he also said Todd Blanche will serve as acting head of the Justice Department.
“Pam Bondi is a great American patriot and a loyal friend, who faithfully served as my attorney general over the past year,” Trump wrote on the platform. “Pam did a tremendous job overseeing a massive crackdown on crime across our country, with murders plummeting to their lowest level since 1900.”
Trump was seen as recently as Wednesday with the now-former attorney general at a Supreme Court hearing on citizenship.
The decision contrasts with Trump’s previous public praise of Bondi, the 87th U.S. attorney general and former 37th attorney general of Florida, who served in that role from 2011-2019 before joining the Trump-Vance administration. He has frequently lauded her loyalty and said he speaks with her often. Bondi was also one of president’s defense lawyers during his first impeachment trial.
Privately, however, Trump had grown frustrated that Bondi was not “moving quickly enough” to prosecute critics and political adversaries he wanted to face criminal charges, according to multiple sources. The New York Times reported that her inability to charge former FBI Director James B. Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James with any crimes is a large factor in the president’s choice to fire her from the government’s primary law enforcement agency.
The move comes as Trump has sought to minimize public turmoil within his administration, avoiding the perception of a revolving-door Cabinet that defined his first term.
Lee Zeldin, a former Republican congressman from New York who unsuccessfully ran for governor, has emerged as a leading contender to lead the Justice Department. He has been one of Trump’s most reliable allies.
“He’s our secret weapon,” Trump said of Zeldin in February during a White House event promoting the coal industry, adding, “He’s getting those approvals done in record-setting time.”
Bondi has also growing faced scrutiny from Congress.
The House Oversight Committee recently subpoenaed her to testify about the department’s handling of certain files, where she declined to answer key questions during a contentious House Judiciary Committee hearing in February.
The Tampa native has a long history of opposing LGBTQ rights through her roles in government. As Florida attorney general, she fought against the legalization of same-sex marriage, arguing it would cause “serious public harm,” pushing forward a legal battle that cost taxpayers nearly half a million dollars. She also asked the Florida Supreme Court to overturn a lower court ruling that found the state’s same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional.
More recently, Bondi established a “Title IX Special Investigations Team” within the Justice Department focused on restricting transgender women and girls from participating in women’s and girls’ sports teams and accessing facilities aligned with their gender identity. She also told Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia to turn over the medical records of anyone under 19 who received gender-affirming care.
Her removal follows Trump’s decision last month to oust another controversial female Cabinet figure, Kristi Noem.
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