National
HHS moves again to enable anti-LGBT discrimination in health care
Proposal would allow denial of services based on religious objections
HHS has proposed a rule to allow anti-trans discrimination in health care.
On the heels of creating a new conscience division at the Department of Health & Human Services, the Trump administration has proposed a new religious exemption that critics say would allow widespread discrimination against women seeking abortions and against LGBT people.
Camilla Taylor, senior counsel for Lambda Legal, told the Washington Blade the proposal is “a travesty, outrageous” in terms of its potential to allow denial of medical services for LGBT people.
“It undoubtedly will result in increased denials of service to LGBT people,” Taylor said. “It’s intended to facilitate federally funded health care providers denying service not just to LGBT people, but to women and other vulnerable groups.”
Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, said in a conference call with reporters the proposal ignores federal laws against discrimination in health care.
“The Department of Health & Human Services … proposed a regulation that goes well beyond existing laws to create sweeping, dangerous exemptions that would encourage health care providers to pick and choose which patients they will and won’t treat,” Keisling said.
The language of the 216-page proposal is geared more toward allowing medical providers to deny abortion-related services on the basis of religious objections, but it contains broad language allowing for exemptions for any reason as well as code words critics say are intended to deny LGBT people medical services.
A provision allowing for exemptions on “sterilization” procedures, for example, is seen as a slur meant to include gender reassignment surgery for transgender people. Other provisions condoning religious counseling are construed as allowing federal payments for widely discredited “ex-gay” conversion therapy.
Taylor said the although rule is specific to abortion, much of the broader language in the proposal would impact access to health care for LGBT people.
“It allows federally funded accredited health care providers to deny services on religious or moral beliefs, whatever the hell that means,” Taylor said.
The proposed rule comes one day after the creation of the Conscience & Religious Freedom Division with the HHS Office for Civil Rights, which has been panned as a tool for enabling the kind of denial of services enabled in the religious freedom rule.
“It’s weaponizing the Office of Civil Rights within HHS to target people for denial of health care at taxpayer expense,” Taylor said.
On the same day as the proposed rule was published, HHS announced a similar reversal of Obama-era policy to allow states to limit access to Medicaid to health institutions, including Planned Parenthood, that provide services to which the states object.
In contrast to the Trump administration, the Obama administration issued a rule interpreting the provision barring sex discrimination under the Affordable Care Act to ban medical providers from discriminating against transgender patients or women who have had abortions. After a legal challenge, however, HHS was enjoined from enforcing that rule as a result of a court order issued by U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor in Texas.
Even with the Trump administration’s proposed rule, the provision of Obamacare barring sex discrimination, Section 1557, remains in effect. Individuals who feel they faced anti-LGBT discrimination in the health care system still have a private right to sue in federal court under that underlying statute.
Taylor, however, said many courts have put these lawsuits on hold in anticipation of new regulations coming from the Trump administration.
“It’s unclear what remedy people will have in court,” Taylor said. “We would argue that those courts should take action, should remedy the discrimination.”
The proposed rule isn’t yet in effect. The proposal allows for a comment period of 60 days, which will proceed the finalization of the rule at a later time.
As such, many LGBT legal groups said at this time they’re unable to sue the federal government over the rule and will wait until the rule is made final.
Shannon Minter, legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights, said no litigation against the proposal is planned at this time.
“There is nothing in the proposed rule that specifically targets LGBT people, though some of the broad proposed definitions would open the door to potential discrimination against LGBT people and others,” Minter said. “We are still analyzing the potential ramifications. Especially since the rule is not yet final, we are not planning litigation at this time.”
Taylor said a Lambda Legal lawsuit against the new rule is “very likely,” but the timing isn’t yet clear as the comment period process unfolds.
“We are already asking people to call us if they’ve been denied health care, and the creation of this new HHS unit, I think, is an invitation to health care providers to start denying treatment to people now in anticipation that the administration is going to assist them,” Taylor said. “So there may be specific lawsuits that come up prior to the ruling going into effect that concern the administration’s efforts to provide exemptions to non-discrimination requirements.”
South Carolina
Man faces first S.C. ‘hate intimidation’ charge
Timothy Truett allegedly shot at gay club in Myrtle Beach on April 1
A South Carolina man remains in custody on a more than $300,000 bond after he allegedly opened fire at a Myrtle Beach nightclub on April 1, according to WMBF.
Reports say 37-year-old Timothy James Truett Jr., of Clover, S.C., was detained by the Myrtle Beach Police Department after the April 1 incident outside Pulse Ultra Club. He was later arrested and charged with possession of a weapon during a violent crime, discharging a firearm into a dwelling, discharging a firearm within city limits, malicious injury to real property valued over $5,000, and assault or intimidation due to political opinions or the exercise of civil rights.
At 10:57 a.m. on April 1, officers responded to a call about a possible shooting at Pulse Ultra Club, located in the 2700 block of South Kings Highway.
In an affidavit released later, the club’s owner, Ken Phillips, said he was doing paperwork that morning when he heard “five or six” gunshots. He went outside and found a window and the windshield of his SUV shattered by bullets. An SUV with blue plastic covering one window was left at the scene.
Police later reviewed footage that showed a silver vehicle stopping in the middle of the road. The video appeared to capture muzzle flashes coming from the passenger-side window.
According to the affidavit, an officer later pulled over a vehicle driven by Truett and found spent shell casings in the back seat, along with a gun.
Documents do not detail why Truett was ultimately charged under the state law covering assault or intimidation tied to political opinions or the exercise of civil rights.
As of April 1, records show Truett is being held in Horry County on a combined bond of more than $312,000.
WMBF spoke with Phillips after the incident and asked whether there was any prior conflict that might have led to the shooting.
“I don’t know if it’s personal, I don’t know if it’s related to being gay, I don’t know if it’s related to the bar issues,” Phillips told WMBF. “Anybody with a mindset of pulling out a weapon in broad daylight is not right.”
“My primary concern has and always will be the safety of my community and my customers,” he added. “It’s given me great concern … as to how far people will go.”
WMBF also spoke with Adam Hayes, vice chair of Myrtle Beach’s Human Rights Coalition, who was involved in pushing for the ordinance. He said that while the incident itself is troubling, it shows the policy is being put to use.
The ordinance is intended to deter “crimes that are motivated by bias or hate towards any person or persons, in whole or in part, because of the actual or perceived” identity, in the absence of a statewide hate crime law.
“It’s nice to see that something we put into policy is not just a piece of paper, that it’s actually being used,” said Hayes.
He said the shooting underscores the need for a statewide hate crime law in South Carolina and added that the incident has left the local LGBTQ community shaken.
South Carolina and Wyoming are the only two states in the U.S. without a comprehensive statewide hate crime law.
Truett remains in jail as of publication.
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.
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